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United States Communications Government News

Netflix and Spotify Might Be Required To Issue Emergency Alerts From the Government Just Like TV and Radio (gizmodo.com) 55

Posted by msmash from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.
Streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Spotify might be required to issue emergency alerts from the government if U.S. lawmakers have their way. From a report: TV and radio stations operating in the U.S. are required by law to issue emergency warnings, like the infamous fake missile alert for Hawaii issued in early 2018, but lawmakers want to bring those alerts to more platforms, as viewers use more and more internet-based services. The legislation, dubbed the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement (READI) Act, has bipartisan support and is being introduced in the Senate by Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Republican John Thune of South Dakota. A bipartisan group of Representatives in the House have a similar bill that has already been introduced.

The legislation would also make it illegal for consumers to opt out of federal emergency alerts on their phones and would require alerts by the U.S. president and FEMA to be repeated. TV and radio stations are currently only required to issue an alert once. "When a missile alert went out across Hawai'i last year, some people never got the message on their phones, while others missed it on their TVs and radios. Even though it was a false alarm, the missile alert exposed real flaws in the way people receive emergency alerts," Senator Schatz said in a statement posted to his website.
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Netflix and Spotify Might Be Required To Issue Emergency Alerts From the Government Just Like TV and Radio More

Netflix and Spotify Might Be Required To Issue Emergency Alerts From the Government Just Like TV and Radio

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  • Conditioning (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Rick Schwuleman ( 6339650 )
    This is the nanny state conditioning its serfs to be obedient. Don't like to have your door kicked in at 1AM by an unknown intruder and decide to fight back? Tough. You now have a hundred rounds in your chest, your face has been melted off by a flashbang, and you have to pay to repair the door.

    • A while ago, I had emergency personal knocking on my door asking me to evacuate my home because a natural gas truck flipped over and caught on fire less than a mile from my home.
      If they had a way to alert the public in the area to evacuate without them risking their lives knocking on doors it would probably be all the better.

  • Entirely sensible.. and YouTube/Spotify... (Score:4)

    by ClarkMills ( 515300 ) on Friday October 25, 2019 @01:41PM (#59347416)

    Sometimes geographic broadcasts (eg broadcast SMS in a cell or cells) makes sense and will help focus the alerts. Being on VPN over a shared network might throw things.

  • Emergency broadcasting makes sense. For things like extreme weather conditions. Most of us don't spend our time on broadcast TV but with streaming media. So we should have emergency messaging available.

    That said, we do get phone alerts which will probably be more effective than Netflix.

    • you streaming media should not know geographically where you are.
      Maybe they do , but that is something that should be fixed, by browser and phone makers and insisted on by consumers.
      More over it would be better for the phone not to know where I am unless the GPS is on ( and even then permission is OPT IN).

      • More over it would be better for the phone not to know where I am unless the GPS is on ( and even then permission is OPT IN).

        Your phone doesn't have to know where it is. The hypothetical emergency broadcast is going to be spread via local cell towers (local to wherever the emergency is, anyways), and if your phone isn't in that area, it'll never hear it. If it is, it will....

    • Car FM radios generally implement RDBS Alerts (RDS outside North America) such that the radio monitors in background, and will automatically switch to radio from other sources when there is an emergency alert. Rather than require streaming providers to handle alerts across thousands of geographical areas based on unreliable IP geolocation, maybe TV and home audio makers should be pushed to do the same, and smart speaker manufacturers pushed to include FM. This would leave people who do not want this free to

    • TV I watch at the house, but if I'm down in the shop I don't have the phone with me, and I'm likely either listening to the radio, (which is supposedly already covered) or, if I've had enough country western, listening to streaming. So there is time when an online emergency broadcast might be useful.

  • in fact i think that they should somehow have more local emergencies emergencies in as well (flood, tornado amber alert ect) sad fact is sense the end of the cold war the Civil defense sirens have fallen to disrepair. for example back in the 80's and 90's you would almost be deafened when the sirens went off now, you can barely hear them this coupled with most people moving away from traditional broadcast to steaming services this is a timely and necessary change.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ledow ( 319597 )

      What did you think cold war era sirens would have done anyway?

      I live in a country where I have NEVER in my life been subject to any kind of siren, alert or emergency broadcast. It's just that simple. And that localised.

      What do you think I'm going to do with that information about an emergency? There are very, very, very few situations which require me to be briefed in advance that I wouldn't already be - or which I could unknowingly subject myself to.

      And the child-alert things? I'm sorry, but I will lit

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by EvilSS ( 557649 )
        It always amazes me how people in some areas (like the UK in particular) think that their local weather is how the rest of the world works too. They just can't comprehend how in places like north America weather can be both extremely dangerous and quickly evolving. Having emergency alerts can mean people getting to shelter before an event like a tornado hits their home. It can literally save lives.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Dusanyu ( 675778 )
        those cold war era sirens were fantastic for sending information – A 3 to 5 minute steady signal Attention or Alert Warning 3 to 5 minute wavering tone : Attack warning I will admit i had to look up the attack warning signal because the only reason my neck of the woods would ever be bombed is if an enemy wanted to make a whole mess of popcorn. as a young kid i knew what that louse noise singled time to go and take shelter unless it was the first Wednesday of the month at noon that they were testin

      • Isn't it surprising/astonishing in the first place that a country needs such a thing like an AMBER alert?

        "Signed out of school", never heard about that. Here kids leave the school and walk home.

        • "Signed out of school", never heard about that. Here kids leave the school and walk home." They live in an area which is infested with helicoptor parents, and parents must arrange for kids to go on a "playdate". This is because predators with mouths open wide and drooling are hiding behind every single bush, tree, and utility pole waiting to snatch up any child who dares steps into the front yard unattended. Rumor has it, kids in those places will be required by law to wear thick padded suits making them

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Cyberax ( 705495 )

        What do you think I'm going to do with that information about an emergency?

        Tornado warnings save lives. You will have time to get into the emergency shelter and wait it out. Ditto for earthquake warnings - even a handful of seconds is enough to move away from bookshelves, turn off your stove, etc.

        • If I am not in the habit of ignoring them because the bulk of them are irrelevant to me. Netflix and spotify have no reason in the world to know where in the world I am using there service. So what are they going to do send every alter from all 50 states to every phone? Too much static and people start ignoring it.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Cyberax ( 705495 )
            A zipcode-level precision is enough for them. Is it too intrusive?

            • How would spotify or netflix now what zip code, maybe billing address? I could be on VPN or using TOR , I can log in from anywhere in the world while i'm traveling.
              The only way to track it down would be to back trace my packet information , which again , should never be the business of a web site and frankly my ISP should not allow without a warrant.

              I guess if I received only notifications for my billing zip code, that would be better but wouldn't it just be A LOT more sane to have the cell phone provide

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Cyberax ( 705495 )
                They can add a field to specify it in your player settings. Easy, doesn't require anything intrusive and nobody stops you from just putting 90210 instead of your real ZIP. For mobiles and cars it won't matter anyway.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *

        Waking up a million people with an alert they can't turn off

        This results in a million people learning to turn off their phones before bed.

    • because after all I want to get notified of every tornado and fire in the 50 states ... the result will be people ignoring the warnings because most of them will be irrelevant. Your streaming media SHOULD have not idea where you are geographically , that is part of the point of it being streaming.

  • Leave it up to the ISPs (Score:4, Interesting)

    by cnaumann ( 466328 ) on Friday October 25, 2019 @01:54PM (#59347470)

    Why would this need to be a Netflix thing?

    Push some "emergency warning" packets down the pipe. The ISPs have a reasonable idea where the device is (or should be) located. Do the same with mobiles. Leave it up to the user's device to figure out what to do with them. Putting this on individual platforms such as Netflix is silly.

    • From the bill: [congress.gov]

      Sec.8.(a) Study.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and after providing public notice and opportunity for comment, the Commission shall complete an inquiry to examine the feasibility of updating the Emergency Alert System to enable or improve alerts to consumers provided through the internet, including through streaming services.

      To include streaming services, and not specifically streaming services only.

      Of course I'm instantly imagining a TSR that's mandated by law to run on all devices connected to the internet, because "safety and security" is the best excuse government has for making you sacrifice your privacy.

    • My worry is that is will be an always locked in the on position, no way to disable or select which kind of warnings I get system, like we have with phones now. This would be great if say I can set it to recieve tornado and disaster warnings in my area (no more than 10 miles in any direction) and ignore all of the other shit. But of course they won't do that. "We know what's best for you, little dull stupid peon. Now shut up and do what you are told to do! We are your lords, masters, and KINGS" Oh well,

    • Why would this need to be a Netflix thing?

      Push some "emergency warning" packets down the pipe. The ISPs have a reasonable idea where the device is (or should be) located. Do the same with mobiles. Leave it up to the user's device to figure out what to do with them. Putting this on individual platforms such as Netflix is silly.

      Now this I like.

      But the government meddling can come later. The first thing is the engineering. You should write an RFC. Seriously. This sounds like something that should get a proper technical treatment and end up on ietf.org before government screws it up. Let them adopt what we design, not the other way around.

      RFC 6443 exists, but it's fairly heavyweight and meant for requesting help in an emergency, not being notified of an area emergency. RFC 5012 is also about VOIP and not notifications. I'm no

    • It’s not nearly as simple as you make it out to be.

      My ISP occasionally tries to inject notifications related to service outages, data caps, or other such things into web content. Unfortunately, the way it usually plays out is that all of my apps and services suddenly stop working because random bits are being injected into all of their traffic. It’s not until I eventually pull up a web browser (on a WiFi connected device, since the cell network goes around the issue) to see if there’s a se

  • I've heard the "I got an Amber alert, now I just need to figure out how to turn it off" joke in quite a few TV shows (Family Guy, for one). And I wish I could turn it off on my phone too.,

      No, just, no.I don't need alerts breaking into the show I am streaming. I already have a phone that does this.

  • Fuck you both with a pineapple, Brian Schatz and Republican John Thune.

  • Then you can demand such things.

  • I am actually kinda surprised we don't already have a law requiring all personal electronic devices to always be on the Internet to receive periodic instructions from our overlord, Uncle Sam.

    Failure to connect your smart TV to the Internet could be a felony since doing so puts so many children in immediate danger!

  • there is no database big enough and fast enough to match every consumer location by grid square (GPS spies, here they come) with every warning by grid square (NWS doesn't have the cash or staff to split and feed Buggy Brother)... and doesn't have the capacity to identify every stream out of providers with the same coordinates and interrupt them. this is technobabble asshattery by some congresscritter who can't stop his ancient VCR from flashing 12:00... or his microwave, which for some reason cooks everyth

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Hadlock ( 143607 )

      My cell phone provider has me input my billing zip code, then won't activate my phone service unless I provide an emergency physical address for 911. Yeah multiple people use a single netflix account but this system has technically worked just fine for about five years now and emergency services has seemingly signed off on it for many years now. I think a quick splash screen that says "hey is this your address based on your zip code? yes/no" that you have to click through in a similar fashion is pretty stra

  • ... that this concept, if linked up a little too tightly with the government systems generating these messages, is going to create yet one more ad-hoc surveillance network?
  • I am thrilled when I miss the ending of a great movie and even more excited if that God awful system comes on at 3am. I mean, some brat goes missing in a city 500 miles from me and I should know about it instantly. Perhaps I should run to the nearest Hwy. and stand there in my undies waiting just in case the car gets near me. I particularly enjoy the rude, loud signal that indicates that some fool is about to make the announcement followed by the three loud alarms that follow the broadcast.

  • Put network sniffer on your network, wait for one of their annoying useless warnings. Then block them in the future.
    Don't give me BULLSHIT about how good this is. I get their FUCKING alerts on my cell phone I don't FUCKING need it on my TV too! If you want it great! We should be allowed to OPT OUT of multiple alerting. it's FUCKING annoying!

  • See https://www.bbc.com/news/techn... [bbc.com] about an unfortunate couple who were hounded for years by police, debt-collecters, and people-with-a-grudge, because one geo-IP database pointed to their farm as the default location for otherwise unknown IP addresses.

    The default has now been moved to the middle of a nearby lake. But what happens when an alert goes out anywhere in the USA under the proposed legislation? The farmhouse will still get those alerts being near the location, according to Maxmind's databses.

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