Disaster alert? Check your cellphone.

by Actual News Geezer | May 15, 2007 at 06:32 am

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So you live in a seaside location, and your cell phone rings in a particularly odd sort of way. Someone calling with a distinctive ring tone that sounds suspiciously like...an air raid siren? Perhaps a tsunami alert?

Could be. Called Cell Broadcast, the technology was first demonstrated 10 years ago, but it's only now that some policy makers are clamoring to have it implemented as a disaster alerting system. Today, the redoubtable Christian Science Monitor has an excellent story that uses the news hook of the Santa Catalina wildfire to explore the benefits of a cellular-based emergency warning system.

OAKLAND, CALIF. - When a wildfire threatened resort areas of Catalina Island off Los Angeles last week, authorities used bullhorns to spread word of an evacuation.

If the lieutenant governor gets his way, officials trying to warn Californians of fires, floods, toxic spills, or earthquakes will have an additional tool: cellphones.

Of course there are potential drawbacks, the least of which are the manifold opportunities for spamming mobile customers:

One obvious concern is misuse. It's a problem already evident in the limited text-message alert systems already in place. Some states, cities, and institutions across the country have opt-in systems, where people can put themselves on a list to receive cellular alerts.

"The real danger is that once a technology is implemented that you'll get all kinds of municipal spam," says Avi Greengart, principal analyst for mobile devices with Current Analysis, a market research firm in Virginia. "My kid's school calls my cellphone with automatic messages as stupid as 'the drop-off lane has shifted.' Well, frankly I don't care … and why are you using up my minutes?"

Mr. Garamendi assures that the California system would "only be used for true emergencies," determined by strict protocol. Text messages might also be paired with the warning tone familiarized by TV and radio alerts.

But there is another concern as well - and that is the whole notion of a surveillance-based society. Might your cell phone rat you out on your location, your activities?

What the industry calls passive location awareness on the part of cellphones is critical to growth in mobile social software. It simply means that a phone knows where it is because it is equipped with technology like a Global Positioning System. Most current location-based services do not automatically keep track of where you are; you need to tell them by sending a text message.