Wireless Emergency Alerts

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An example of a Wireless Emergency Alert on an Android smartphone, indicating a Tornado Warning in the covered area. Wireless Emergency Alert - Tornado Warning.png
An example of a Wireless Emergency Alert on an Android smartphone, indicating a Tornado Warning in the covered area.

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA, formerly known as the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), and prior to that as the Personal Localized Alerting Network (PLAN)), [1] is an alerting network in the United States designed to disseminate emergency alerts to mobile devices such as cell phones and pagers. Organizations are able to disseminate and coordinate emergency alerts and warning messages through WEA and other public systems by means of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. [2]

Contents

Background

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed and adopted the network structure, operational procedures and technical requirements in 2007 and 2008 in response to the Warning, Alert, and Response Network (WARN) Act passed by Congress in 2006, which allocated $106 million to fund the program. [3] CMAS will allow federal agencies to accept and aggregate alerts from the President of the United States, the National Weather Service (NWS) and emergency operations centers, and send the alerts to participating wireless providers who will distribute the alerts to their customers with compatible devices via Cell Broadcast, a technology similar to SMS text messages that simultaneously delivers messages to all phones using a cell tower instead of individual recipients. [1] [4]

The government issues three types of alerts through this system:

When the alert is received, a sound is played even if the ringer is off. [6] On nearly all devices, the Emergency Alert System radio/TV attention signal sounds in a predetermined pattern. [7]

The system is a collaborative effort among FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). [8]

Participation

A presidential alert, as delivered during a national periodic test of the Emergency Alert System on October 3, 2018. Under WEA regulations, users must be prevented from disabling presidential alerts. U.S. presidential mobile phone alert (animated).gif
A presidential alert, as delivered during a national periodic test of the Emergency Alert System on October 3, 2018. Under WEA regulations, users must be prevented from disabling presidential alerts.

Within ten months of FEMA making the government's design specifications for this secure interface for message transfer available, wireless service providers choosing to participate in CMAS must begin development and testing of systems which will allow them to receive alerts from alert originators and distribute them to their customers. [1] Systems were required to be fully deployed within 28 months of the December 2009 adoption of such standards and were expected to be delivering alert messages to the public by 2012. [8] Although not mandatory, several wireless providers, including T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon have announced their willingness to participate in the system. [3] Providers who do not wish to participate must notify their customers. Some phones which are not CMAS-capable may require only a software upgrade; while others may need to be replaced entirely. [1]

CMAS messages, although displayed similarly to SMS text messages, are always free and are routed through a separate service which will give them priority over voice and regular text messages in congested areas. [1] [9] Devices may offer the capability to disable most CMAS messages, but end-users must not be able to disable alerts issued by the President or Administrator of FEMA ("National Alert"), as prohibited by the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act. [10] [1]

Public television stations are also required by the FCC to act as a distribution system for CMAS alerts. Within 18 months of receiving funding from the Department of Commerce, all public television stations must be able to receive CMAS alerts from FEMA and transmit them to participating wireless service providers. [1]

In January 2018, FCC chairman Ajit Pai said the commission planned to vote on overhauling wireless alerts, with a goal to make their targeting more granular and specific, citing issues with uses of wider alerts during Hurricane Harvey, and perceptions by users that they are receiving too many alerts that do not necessarily apply to them. The FCC voted in favor of these new rules on January 30, 2018; by November 30, 2019, participating providers must deliver alerts with only a 0.1 mile overspill from their target area, require that devices be able to cache previous alerts for at least 24 hours, and that providers must support a 360-character maximum length and Spanish-language messages by May 2019. [11] [12]

The House of Representatives passed the READI Act in November 2020 which amends the Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act to additionally require mandatory distribution of alerts issued by the Administrator of FEMA. [5] [13]

National Weather Service

The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS), interface to the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) service, went live in April 2012. [14] The NWS began delivering its Wireless Emergency Alerts on June 28, 2012. [15] [16]

A Tornado Warning by the National Weather Service in Kansas City to take shelter immediately during a rapidly-moving and unpredictable QLCS tornado on June 8, 2022. National Weather Service Emergency Alert on an iPhone - Tornado Warning.jpg
A Tornado Warning by the National Weather Service in Kansas City to take shelter immediately during a rapidly-moving and unpredictable QLCS tornado on June 8, 2022.

Warning types sent via CMAS include tornado, flash flood, dust storm, hurricane, typhoon, extreme wind, tsunami warnings, "destructive" severe thunderstorm warnings, and sometimes snow squall warnings. Also, until November 2013, blizzard and ice storm warnings were also included in CMAS; they were discontinued based on customer feedback [17] due to such warnings typically issued well in advance of approaching winter storms, thus not representing an immediate hazard. While blizzard and ice storm warnings are no longer sent to phones by the National Weather Service, some local authorities continue to send winter weather related alerts at their discretion; for example in New York City during the January 2015 North American blizzard, alerts were sent to people's cell phones to warn users of a travel ban on New York City streets. [18]

Beginning Fall 2019, NWS significantly reduced the amount of Flash Flood Warnings that are issued over WEA to only those with a considerable or catastrophic damage threat. It was noted that the NWS over-alerts FFWs over WEA, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has noted a large number of public complaints about overnight WEAs for FFWs with perceived little impact. [19]

As of August 2, 2021, NWS has added Severe Thunderstorm Warnings labeled with a “destructive” damage threat, for wind gusts over 80 mph and hail over baseball (2.75") size. [20] [21]

The Snow Squall Warning is a warning that began operation out of seven NWS offices beginning mid-January 2018. Unlike Blizzard and Ice Storm Warnings which are issued well in advance, Snow Squall Warnings are issued when life-threatening snow squalls that will produce strong winds and poor visibilities are occurring. These are issued as Storm-Based Warning Polygons, like Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings. This is in effect for the nationwide WEA Program as this event requires immediate action unlike Blizzard or Ice Storm Warnings. In addition to the change, the Dust Storm Warning is now polygon based, and will activate WEA. The zone-based Dust Storm Warning issued in advance was replaced by the new Blowing Dust Warning, which does not activate WEA. Nationwide Implementation of these new events occurred in late 2018. [22]

Notable uses

National periodic tests

Although national tests of the related Emergency Alert System have been conducted nearly annually since 2011, the first national test that concurrently included WEA [37] was held on October 3, 2018, at 2:18 PM EDT. [38] [39] [40] The message was expected to reach an estimated 75 percent of cell phones. [41]

The lead-up to the test attracted controversy, due to the false assumption that then-president Donald Trump was personally executing the test, and reports suggesting that he could abuse the system to send personal messages similar to those he issued via social media. [42] [43] A lawsuit was filed requesting a temporary restraining order blocking the test, claiming that it violated users' First Amendment rights to be free from "government-compelled listening", the system could allow the dissemination of "arbitrary, biased, irrational and/or content-based messages to hundreds of millions of people", and could frighten children. The suit was thrown out, citing that a Presidential alert can only be used to disseminate legitimate emergency messages. The judge also clarified that the test itself would be conducted and executed by FEMA employees, with no personal involvement from the President. [42] [44]

John McAfee Twitter
@officialmcafee

The "Presidential alerts": they are capable of accessing the E911 chip in your phones – giving them full access to your location, microphone, camera and every function of your phone. This not a rant, this is from me, still one of the leading cybersecurity experts. Wake up people!

October 3, 2018 [45]

On the day of the test, John McAfee (then running for the 2020 United States presidential election) made a false statement that the Presidential alert involved the E911 system, alleged phones to have a "E911 chip" capable of giving the government access to the phone's location and microphone. [46] [47] The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that there is "no such thing as an E911 chip". [48] Fact-checking website Snopes stated that "WEA messages are not [related] to E911 functions". [49]

Another National Periodic Test of the Emergency Alert System took place on August 11, 2021, at 2:20 PM EDT, which also included a test message for Wireless Emergency Alerts. Unlike the first NPT for WEA that took place in 2018, the WEA portion of the test was only administered for phones that were opted in to receive the test message. However, it also sent the messages in both English and Spanish, depending on the language the phone was set to. It is unknown which language the message was sent for phones not set in English nor Spanish. [50]

Test alert issued on 4 October 2023 National Alert WEA.jpg
Test alert issued on 4 October 2023

A National Periodic Test of the Emergency Alert System took place on October 4, 2023, at 2:20 PM EDT. It was issued by mobile phone (Wireless Emergency Alert), radio, satellite radio, television, and cable television. [51] [52]

False alarms

Testing errors

Criticism

Many members of the public disabled the alerts due to the alerts overriding silent settings on their phone and being of limited relevance to them. [6] [60]

Security

At the 2019 MobiSys conference in South Korea, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder demonstrated that it was possible to easily spoof wireless emergency alerts within a confined area, using open source software and commercially available software-defined radios. They recommended that steps be taken to ensure that alerts can be verified as coming from a trusted network, or using public-key cryptography upon reception. [61]

See also

Related Research Articles

Enhanced 911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency Alert System</span> Method of emergency broadcasting in the United States

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite and broadcast television and both AM, FM and satellite radio. Informally, Emergency Alert System is sometimes conflated with its mobile phone counterpart Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), a different but related system. However, both the EAS and WEA, among other systems, are coordinated under the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). The EAS, and more broadly IPAWS, allows federal, state, and local authorities to efficiently broadcast emergency alert and warning messages across multiple channels. The EAS became operational on January 1, 1997, after being approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November 1994, replacing the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), and largely supplanted Local Access Alert systems, though Local Access Alert systems are still used from time to time. Its main improvement over the EBS, and perhaps its most distinctive feature, is its application of a digitally encoded audio signal known as Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), which is responsible for the characteristic "screeching" or "chirping" sounds at the start and end of each message. The first signal is the "header" which encodes, among other information, the alert type and locations, or the specific area that should receive the message. The last short burst marks the end-of-message. These signals are read by specialized encoder-decoder equipment. This design allows for automated station-to-station relay of alerts to only the area the alert was intended for.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Severe thunderstorm warning</span> Weather warning indicating an observed severe thunderstorm

A severe thunderstorm warning is a type of public warning for severe weather that is issued by weather forecasting agencies worldwide when one or more severe thunderstorms have been detected by Doppler weather radar, observed by weather spotters, or reported by an emergency management agency, law enforcement, or the general public. Unlike a watch, a warning is issued to areas in the direct path of active severe thunderstorms, that are expecting a direct impact typically within an hour. Severe thunderstorms can cause property damage and injury due to large hail, high winds, and flooding due to torrential rainfall. The exact criteria to issue a warning varies from country to country.

Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) is a protocol used for framing and classification of broadcasting emergency warning messages. It was developed by the United States National Weather Service for use on its NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) network, and was later adopted by the Federal Communications Commission for the Emergency Alert System, then subsequently by Environment Canada for use on its Weatheradio Canada service. It is also used to set off receivers in Mexico City and surrounding areas as part of the Mexican Seismic Alert System (SASMEX).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NOAA Weather Radio</span> Weather radio network in the United States

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR), also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards, is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Service office. The routine programming cycle includes local or regional weather forecasts, synopsis, climate summaries or zone/lake/coastal waters forecasts. During severe conditions the cycle is shortened into: hazardous weather outlooks, short-term forecasts, special weather statements or tropical weather summaries. It occasionally broadcasts other non-weather related events such as national security statements, natural disaster information, environmental and public safety statements, civil emergencies, fires, evacuation orders, and other hazards sourced from the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System. NOAA Weather Radio uses automated broadcast technology that allows for the recycling of segments featured in one broadcast cycle into another and more regular updating of segments to each of the transmitters. It also speeds up the warning transmitting process.

The Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) is an XML-based data format for exchanging public warnings and emergencies between alerting technologies. CAP allows a warning message to be consistently disseminated simultaneously over many warning systems to many applications, such as Google Public Alerts and Cell Broadcast. CAP increases warning effectiveness and simplifies the task of activating a warning for responsible officials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency population warning</span> Warning issued by authorities to the public en masse

An emergency population warning is a method where by local, regional, or national authorities can contact members of the public to warn them of an impending emergency. These warnings may be necessary for a number of reasons, including:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weather radio</span> Specialized radio receiver for weather forecasts

A weather radio is a specialized radio receiver that is designed to receive a public broadcast service, typically from government-owned radio stations, dedicated to broadcasting weather forecasts and reports on a continual basis, with the routine weather reports being interrupted by emergency weather reports whenever needed. Weather radios are typically equipped with a standby alerting function—if the radio is muted or tuned to another band and a severe weather bulletin is transmitted, it can automatically sound an alarm and/or switch to a pre-tuned weather channel for emergency weather information. Weather radio services may also occasionally broadcast non-weather-related emergency information, such as in the event of a natural disaster, a child abduction alert, or a terrorist attack.

The Digital Emergency Alert System (DEAS) was a system managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and designed to alert first-responders and civilians in the event of a national emergency. It was based upon and supplemented the Emergency Alert System (EAS) by sending out text, voice, video, and other digital messages to mobile phones, pagers, radios, and televisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cell Broadcast</span> Method of sending messages to multiple mobile phone users

Cell Broadcast (CB) is a method of sending messages to multiple mobile telephone users in a defined area at the same time. It is defined by the ETSI's GSM committee and 3GPP and is part of the 2G, 3G, 4G LTE (telecommunication) and 5G standards. It is also known as Short Message Service-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB) or CB SMS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blizzard warning</span> Weather warning indicating blizzard conditions in the warned area

A blizzard warning is a hazardous weather statement issued by Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) of the National Weather Service (NWS) in the United States, which indicates heavy snowfall accompanied by sustained winds or frequent gusts of 35 mph (56 km/h) or greater are forecast to occur for a minimum of three hours. A blizzard tends to reduce visibilities to 14 mile (400 m) or less.

The National Warning System (NAWAS) is an automated telephone system used to convey warnings to United States-based federal, state and local governments, as well as the military and civilian population. The original mission of NAWAS was to warn of an imminent enemy attack or an actual accidental missile launch upon the United States. NAWAS still supports this mission but the emphasis is on natural and technological disasters. Organizations are able to disseminate and coordinate emergency alerts and warning messages through NAWAS and other public systems by means of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.

The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is an architecture that unifies the United States' Emergency Alert System, National Warning System, Wireless Emergency Alerts, and NOAA Weather Radio, under a single platform. IPAWS was designed to modernize these systems by enabling alerts to be aggregated over a network and distributed to the appropriate system for public dissemination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alert Ready</span> National alerting system of Canada

The National Public Alerting System, branded as Alert Ready, is the national warning system in Canada, broadcast to Canadian television, radio, and wireless devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ShakeAlert</span> Earthquake early warning system for the United States

ShakeAlert is an earthquake early warning system (EEW) in the United States, developed and operated by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and its partners. As of 2021, the system issues alerts for the country's West Coast. It is expected that the system will be expanded to other seismically active areas of the United States in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Hawaii false missile alert</span> False alarm sent over all communications media in Hawaii, United States

On the morning of January 13, 2018, an alert was accidentally issued via the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System over television, radio, and cellular networks in the U.S. state of Hawaii, instructing citizens to seek shelter due to an incoming ballistic missile. It concluded with "This is not a drill". The message was sent at 8:08 a.m. local time. The state had not authorized civil defense outdoor warning sirens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency Mobile Alert</span> Mobile phone emergency alerting system in New Zealand.

Emergency Mobile Alerts (EMA) is an alerting network in New Zealand designed to disseminate emergency alerts to mobile devices. Emergency Mobile Alerts are messages about emergencies sent by New Zealand authorised emergency agencies to capable mobile phones. The alerts are sent to participating wireless providers who will distribute the alerts to their customers with compatible devices via Cell Broadcast, a technology best suitable for public warning as it simultaneously delivers messages to all phones using a Mobile Cell tower. Similar solutions are implemented in the United States, The Netherlands (NL-Alert), European Union (EU-Alert), Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Chile, Philippines. One2many B.V. provides this modern Emergency Mobile Alert system including the Cell Broadcast systems and the CAP based centralised Public Warning management system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EU-Alert</span> European system for warning the population in the event of a desaster via cell phones

EU-Alert is the generic term for the European Public Warning Service based upon Cell Broadcast technology.

There are various Wireless Emergency Alerts in Germany which inform citizens about important incidents, disasters and dangerous situations, as well as severe weather. Since February 2023, the alerts of the four main systems have been shared and disseminated in parallel.

The United Kingdom's mobile phone alert system is an emergency population warning system that uses cell broadcast. The coalition government first considered the technology in 2013-2015 but the project was shelved due to concerns over the cost, following the coronavirus pandemic the first test alert sent in May 2021. The warning system is intended for use in major incidents such as flooding or terror attacks. The Emergency Alert System was launched on 19 March 2023, and tested on a nationwide basis for the first time on 23 April 2023.

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