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@flawedworlddev

Looks like the UK may finally be having a proper emergency alert system via the telecoms network. gov.uk/alerts/planned

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@flawedworlddev

Ontario abuses the Presidential Alert level for amber alerts so it treats every missing child as an imminent nuclear attack with a mandatory siren + spoken alert. They've ended up really pissing people off (myself included) since you can't opt-out and they send them at 4am.

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@flawedworlddev

They also often send a separate alert in French minutes later rather than fitting both into the same message. It's normal for all Canadian government communications to be in English + French but it's quite annoying for this. As a bonus, they often send false alerts with it...

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@flawedworlddev

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Seems that Common Alerting Protocol does support multiple languages so I really don't see why that would not be used. Sounds like the whole system is rather shoddily implemented.

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@flawedworlddev

cbc.ca/news/canada/to is the worst example of their abuse of the system. They sent out an alert to most people in the province implying that there was an imminent nuclear meltdown in a city right to the east of Toronto. Scared the hell out of people and of course it was wrong.

Human error, 'systemic issues' led to false Pickering nuclear alert, province says | CBC News

Human error and "systemic issues" contributed to a false alarm issued about an Ontario nuclear power plant last month, and also delayed the cancellation of the alert.

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@flawedworlddev

Same nuclear plant with the large clearing for huge power lines from Pickering all the way to the middle of Toronto which I showed you on Google Maps. Anyway, it's pretty much just par for the course in Ontario. Our government is insanely incompetent in all regards. Ridiculous.

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@flawedworlddev

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That is horrible. Reading that article I can't believe that the live and training system were not clearly marked. What if in an actual alert they send it to the training system? Seems like a seriously harmful setup.

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@flawedworlddev

I wouldn't really be surprised if there was an actual nuclear meltdown with the level of competence displayed by our government. That was basically my thought when I saw that alert: oh great, we're Chernobyl now.

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@flawedworlddev

nytimes.com/2020/01/12/wor is a somewhat better article. It doesn't mention the fact that ALL of these alerts are presidential alerts including the amber alerts though. At least it would actually make sense for a real nuclear power plant meltdown...

Ontario Alert Warned of a Nuclear ‘Emergency,’ Then Backed Down (Published 2020)

Millions were greeted with a screeching alert on their phones. An hour and a half later, another message followed: The alarm “was issued in error.”

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@flawedworlddev

I'm sure the system has caused shortened lifespans from waking up 80 year old people in the middle of in the night in a panic. Sleep deprivation alone has a health impact and causes people to drive poorly, etc. It's so ridiculous sending out a presidential alert for amber alerts.

10:41 AM · Sep 9, 2021Twitter Web App

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@flawedworlddev

Could probably do a study and determine that people have likely died because of the alert system being abused in Ontario...

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@flawedworlddev

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I wonder what the outcome of such a report would be. Given that the protocol does seem to support all the functionality that should be instead used, it sounds like a serious case of negligence potentially.