tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post4466907805372191444..comments2024-03-28T13:39:27.601-07:00Comments on DSHR's Blog: Correlated DistractionDavid.http://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-27024039483824076092022-05-19T15:03:31.470-07:002022-05-19T15:03:31.470-07:00Mark Frauenfelder's Parents sue Apple after Am...Mark Frauenfelder's <a href="https://boingboing.net/2022/05/19/parents-sue-apple-after-amber-alert-tore-apart-sons-eardrums.html" rel="nofollow"><i>Parents sue Apple after Amber Alert "tore apart" son's eardrums</i></a> is so right:<br /><br />"According to a lawsuit filed against Apple, a 12-year-old boy in Texas suffered severe ear damage while he was wearing AirPods and watching Netflix when an Amber Alert siren went off.<br />...<br />The plaintiffs make a good case that Amber Alerts shouldn't start playing at an ear-blasting, nerve-jarring volume. Listeners should be given a chance to remove their earbuds before the volume reaches an ear-splitting level."David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-38960818283682385872018-10-28T11:46:06.444-07:002018-10-28T11:46:06.444-07:00Its about 8:10am this morning and my wife and I ar...Its about 8:10am this morning and my wife and I are on our way to the trailhead for a hike. I'm driving, negotiating the 4-way stop at Page Mill and I-280, when an ear-splitting siren erupts in the car. I'm momentarily distracted, but fortunately there are no other cars around.<br /><br />My wife grabs her iPhone, which is paired with the car's audio, but she's so paniced she loses the notification. I immediately work out that she hasn't disabled these alerts on her phone.<br /><br />Then my phone goes off, not as loud because it isn't paired with the car. This is really weird, because <i>I have Amber and Emergency alerts disabled</i>! A minute or so later the ear-splitting siren returned, as my wife's iPhone went off for the second time!<br /><br />When we get to the trailhead we check the notifications. There was only one on each phone. This whole drama was an Amber alert for a kid from Washington state abducted by a family member. Potentially a very serious situation. But this alert had been on the overhead signs on the freeway yesterday afternoon, at least <i>17 hours before our phones went off</i>.<br /><br />Questions:<br /><br />1) Why did I get the Amber alert when I have Amber alerts disabled?<br /><br />2) Why did my wife's phone get two alerts for the same message?<br /><br />3) Why did the authorities wait at least 17 hours before deciding to wake everyone up early on Sunday morning?<br /><br />This system is so broken.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-74514238095604105282018-04-10T14:10:13.586-07:002018-04-10T14:10:13.586-07:00"A vulnerability affecting emergency alert sy..."A vulnerability affecting emergency alert systems supplied by ATI Systems, one of the leading suppliers of warning sirens in the USA, could be exploited remotely via radio frequencies to activate all the sirens and trigger false alarms." reports <a href="https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/04/10/emergency-alert-systems/" rel="nofollow">Zeljka Zorz at <i>HelpNet Security</i></a>. Commands to the warning sirens are not encrypted.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-71387028916079715332018-01-24T14:28:36.423-08:002018-01-24T14:28:36.423-08:00As usual, Randall Munroe has an appropriate commen...As usual, Randall Munroe has an <a href="https://xkcd.com/1946/" rel="nofollow">appropriate comment</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-19419917443893582342018-01-23T06:35:34.589-08:002018-01-23T06:35:34.589-08:00"Hawaiian Gov. David Ige (D) has made the emb..."Hawaiian Gov. David Ige (D) has made the embarrassing admission that his office did not immediately inform the public about the state’s missile alert false alarm partly because he had forgotten the password to his Twitter account." reports <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hawaii-missile-twitter-password-david-ige_us_5a66c692e4b0dc592a0beb3e?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009" rel="nofollow">Josh Butler at <i>HuffPost</i></a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-48238148792462228492018-01-21T07:30:35.052-08:002018-01-21T07:30:35.052-08:00"Hawaii’s false missile alert last weekend di..."Hawaii’s false missile alert last weekend didn’t just cause <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carla-herreria-hawaii-false-nuclear-attack-warning_us_5a5b1cbde4b0fcbc3a10cd85" rel="nofollow">widespread panic</a>, it also triggered real damage, including a car accident and at least one heart attack." reports <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hawaii-missile-alert-accident-heart-attack_us_5a62a253e4b0dc592a08dec4" rel="nofollow">Carla Herreria at <i>Huffington Post</i></a>David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-70770363200012633582018-01-13T18:44:18.789-08:002018-01-13T18:44:18.789-08:00The Wireless Emergency Alert system failed in the ...The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-hawaii-inbound-ballistic-missile-alert-mistake-20180113-story.html" rel="nofollow">Wireless Emergency Alert system failed</a> in the opposite way to the Wine Country fires this time:<br /><br />"The emergency alert, which was sent to cellphones statewide just before 8:10 a.m., said: "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."<br /><br />It took 38 minutes to reassure people that it was, in fact, a drill gone wrong.<br /><br />I'm sure the North Koreans can arrange for an "Ooops, it is a drill" message less than 38 minutes after the time this message goes out for real. And, in any case, who in Hawaii is going to believe the next one?<br /><br />This system is worse than useless, it is actively dangerous.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-55869282029473341162017-10-12T05:57:50.015-07:002017-10-12T05:57:50.015-07:00The Wireless Emergency Alert system failed in the ...The Wireless Emergency Alert system <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-california-fire-emergency-alert-20171011-story.html" rel="nofollow">failed in the Wine Country fires</a>.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-57365526639831705472016-10-02T02:17:01.531-07:002016-10-02T02:17:01.531-07:00Peter Moskowitz points out that Our Cell Phone Ale...Peter Moskowitz points out that <a href="https://backchannel.com/our-cell-phone-alerts-will-be-hacked-2dd01ff8b54b#.fgyq90yxq" rel="nofollow"><i>Our Cell Phone Alerts Will Be Hacked</i></a>, and the improved system offers the bad guys even more potential exploits.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-30069959285783717372016-09-30T06:26:35.735-07:002016-09-30T06:26:35.735-07:00The FCC has voted to "improve" the natio...The FCC has <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/29/technology/fcc-wireless-emergency-alerts/index.html" rel="nofollow">voted to "improve"</a> the nation's correlated distraction system! We are to get longer messages, and eventually links. More text mor distracted drivers to read, and even click on!David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-14152409727307847942016-08-11T08:10:45.812-07:002016-08-11T08:10:45.812-07:00I see I omitted some important details. The dust s...I see I omitted some important details. The dust storm warning was distributed by the system that is now called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Emergency_Alerts" rel="nofollow">Wireless Emergency Alerts</a> to my iPhone. The iPhone was connected to my car via Bluetooth, so the ear-splitting siren interrupted the car radio. The "user interface" is implemented by the phone, not the car. It is <i>designed</i> to distract attention from whatever the user is doing.<br /><br />Everyone with a smartphone in "this area" who hadn't explicitly disabled emergency warnings (as I now have) would have received it and the siren. The reason the driver wasn't paying attention was probably the siren going off in his car.David.https://www.blogger.com/profile/14498131502038331594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4503292949532760618.post-6422864524499072802016-08-10T22:41:27.966-07:002016-08-10T22:41:27.966-07:00I think the way how the alert is displayed in the ...I think the way how the alert is displayed in the vehicle (or on other devices) plays a larger role than the dispatch of the alert itself. If it was a bit of text on the dash board, akin to the signal that reminds drivers of low fuel, I guess it wouldn't be as dangerous.<br /><br />You might however enjoy an idea that circulated in 2012 about transmitting terror warnings broadcasted from a NATO satellite via the smoke detectors installed in every home! You can't make this up! https://bks-portal.rlp.de/sites/default/files/og-group/7824/36/dokumente/BBK_I3-MoWaS-PK_Handout_Text.pdf (German PDF)Dragan Espenschiedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07217215855337282021noreply@blogger.com