

Just got an Amber Alert on my Phone - ereckers

Me: San Francisco, Sprint, HTC Evo<p>Amber Alert
Boulevard, CA AMBER Alert UPDATE:
LIC&#x2F;6WCU986 (CA) Blue Nissan Versa 4 door<p>The phone was a pretty jarring ring w&#x2F; a red symbol&#x2F;icon.<p>Granted I&#x27;m in much better shape then the victim, but I&#x27;d be interested in seeing how these Amber Alerts turn out.
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DrStalker
Serious question: What are you supposed to do? Find the vehicle they describe?
Run away from it? Ignore it and figure someone else will know what to do?

Can someone explain what this "Amber Alert" is because I have no idea and all
the comments in this thread so far seem to assume everyone knows what is being
discussed. Is it some sort of opt-out government alert system to help keep
panic levels up between terrorist attacks?

~~~
teej
The strange thing is that the Amber Alert was for Boulevard, CA which is over
500 miles away.

~~~
chrischen
They were abducted down there 3 days ago. It reached SF today presumably
because they've been traveling possibly to Canada.

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maxcan
I wonder how many highway accidents and fatalities are likely to have been
caused by that loud shrieking sound and everyone in the state of California
looking down at their phones at the exact same time.

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bitsweet
A kid was likely abducted after their mother was murdered - the number of
comments in this thread complaining about this _inconvenience_ makes me lose a
little hope in humanity

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martin_
I also got it, it's a California state wide amber alert. iPhone 5 iOS 7 [1].
Two children were abducted after the murder of their mother in San Diego [2].

It looks like amber alerts were pushed out in an AT&T carrier settings update
back in June [3].

[1] [http://shutter.io/img/43sosz/raw](http://shutter.io/img/43sosz/raw)

[2]
[http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=9a5a45a2046760c...](http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=9a5a45a2046760c&hl=en&gl=US&source=web)

[3]
[http://blogs.att.net/consumerblog/story/a7790136](http://blogs.att.net/consumerblog/story/a7790136)

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oblique63
Same here. Got it on my Nexus 4 (T-Mobile) in SF.

I hadn't noticed this feature before either, so the first thing I did when it
prompted me was to disable it, then when I thought about it for a few seconds,
I realized it was actually a pretty smart/useful feature so I enabled it
again. I hadn't even realized this was an android thing, but if it increases
the likelihood of helping people out, I have no problem with it.

~~~
ereckers
Me too. I'm keeping it on.

iOS people are reporting it too. Looking through twitter it's pretty far
reaching.

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azov
It's a really bad UI for a disruptive message that gets pushed to millions of
people.

How many people know what amber alert is? Of those people, how many know what
to do about it? Of those people, how many know what Nissan Versa looks like?

How much harder would it be to change the text to something like "Child
abduction alert: if you see <car color/model/license plate> call 911" (and,
perhaps, include a silhouette of the car model they are looking for)

~~~
chrischen
Well, to be fair, if you google "amber alert" it tells you more info about
that specific amber alert.

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benarent
For those interested, this is what the push notification looks like.
[http://cl.ly/image/2T19133Y1P22](http://cl.ly/image/2T19133Y1P22)

It didn't link to anything, seems like it could be improved. This is the first
one I've ever seen.

~~~
aaronpk
Seems like it would be reasonable if they're going to blast a message to
_everyone_ to give people some sort of action to take. Like, "if you see the
car, call 911" or "if you see the car, don't approach it" or whatever is
appropriate.

~~~
rhizome
I'm not really interested in giving law enforcement special control over my
phone.

~~~
acchow
They don't have special control over your phone. It's a more efficient method
than sending an SMS to every phone number.

~~~
rhizome
Who else can use the channel, besides law enforcement?

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kyrra
I got one of these last week in Texas. They are fairly jarring. It is nice
that the amber alert website lists all active and closed alerts so you can see
what all the hub-bug was about. Also, doing a google search for "amber alert"
or "amber alert <state>" will give you a card at the top of the results giving
you the details about the alert (the google card only shows up for active
amber alerts).

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jdoliner
I was sufficiently confused by the message in this alert that I googled "Amber
California". If I could review city planning decisions I'd tell them that
Boulevard is a reserved keyword and they should select another name for that
town. Glad you posted this to clear up that the alert itself is amber and
Boulevard is a city.

Also I hope they find the kids.

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fallinghawks
To change your settings in Android: Settings: Wireless&Networks More: Cell
Broadcasts

You have extreme threats, severe threats, and Ambers that you can turn on or
off.

I got a severe storm warning driving through Vermont a couple weeks ago, which
was handy, and just got this Amber. I'm a little mixed on whether to keep the
Amber alert or not.

~~~
jggonz
Keep it on. You may save a child.

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spikels
This was my first Amber Alert on my smartphone and frankly I found quite
annoying. My iPhone squeeled loudly and vibrated waking my sleeping
girlfriend. I understand two kids may be in trouble but this seems like a very
inefficient use of a very large number of people's time. We were lying in bed
reading and sleeping nowhere near any cars. The signs on the highway seem
completely reasonable.

Did they really send it to every modern smartphone in California? Are we
expected to be on call for the police/government at 11pm?

I eventually figured out how to turn it off on an iPhone[1]. The first few
results on Google were non-responsive - apparently being DDOSed by the Amber
Alert!

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6165049](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6165049)

~~~
rtpg
The slight inconvenience it caused you (after all, you were just lying in bed
reading) is worth it if it allows for many more people to be on the lookout
for the vehicle (there aren't digital signs everywhere on the highway either).
I honestly can't think of a better way of informing people of urgent events
(natural disasters, mainly).

~~~
numo16
> I honestly can't think of a better way of informing people of urgent events
> (natural disasters, mainly)

I know that recently, at least in my area (Flint, MI), they started pushing
tornado warnings (tornado touchdown confirmed) to smartphones in a way similar
to the Amber Alert OP discusses. It was actually pretty cool the night in
June, when we had 5 tornadoes touch down in the area, since I don't have TV
and was too busy to notice the weather outside to check the weather online.

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bmmayer1
FYI: The setting to turn these off are in Notifications -> Government Alerts.
The piercing siren seems a little excessive for Amber alerts...and doesn't
even go quiet in silent mode. It's the default option on iPhone 5 AFAIK.

~~~
aaronpk
I can't wait til a movie theater erupts with the sound during a suspenseful
moment in the film. You can't be embarrased about your phone making that noise
if everyone else's did too, right?

~~~
numo16
Perhaps that's why they ask you to turn them off before the show and not just
silence them

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nodesocket
Same here, it was a loud screeching noise, not what I've come to expect from
my iPhone. I didn't even know phones had this ability (not an SMS or push
notification). Is it just smart phones that have this capability?

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aaronpk
I got something similar a while back for a weather alert:
[http://aaronparecki.com/notes/2012/12/16/2/iphone-
emergency-...](http://aaronparecki.com/notes/2012/12/16/2/iphone-emergency-
alert-snowpocalypse)

Looking through the iPhone's notification settings there are new "AMBER
Alerts" and "Emergency Alerts" settings along with all the apps.

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fatbat
The first time I got the alert (non-amber) it took me by surprise. Having
never seen/heard of it I thought it was mistake/joke.

It was a flash flood alert in Las Vegas, a desert. It happened again the
following day but this time a friend shared with me a pic of a flooded
Caeser's Palace casino. It helped me avoid that area.

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jengler
It is part of iOS. You can enable/disable "Government" alerts through
Settings->Notifications (at the very bottom).

~~~
skeletonjelly
It's a part of iOS in that SMS' are a part. It's technically a part of GSM
technology.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Mobile_Alert_System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Mobile_Alert_System)

Pedant away!

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wfunction
Could someone explain why it was sent to the entire _state_? What is someone
500 miles away supposed to do?

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MAGZine
3 days of missing people + 60mph travel speed = a hell of a lot more than 500
miles.

if the vehicle is somewhere in california, they want to find it.

~~~
wfunction
3 days? I only see "Sunday Evening" [1], which is just one day...

[1] [http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-
news/ci_23803011/amber-a...](http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-
news/ci_23803011/amber-alert-issued-san-diego-siblings-traveling-suspect)

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jelled
Got it on my HTC One (Sprint). At first I thought the fire alarm was going
off.

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korg250
By the title I thought you were talking about the next Windows Phone update.

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borplk
What's that? Like emergency notification on mobile?

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evan_
Sort of, it's a system for alerting the public specifically about kidnapped
children. The alerts show up on billboards and they're broadcast on TV and
radio, generally within a single town or small area. I think it's in use
throughout North America.

Usually the idea is they'll send out a description of a car and a license
plate, and if you see it you're supposed to call 911 (emergency response
number).

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_alert](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_alert)

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necavi
Hmm, my girlfriend just got that too. Interesting.

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matt_
they have been effective in AZ

