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Caution: Secret cell phones may reveal themselves Wednesday. Nationwide alert system test 2:20pm ET [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-03  

I hope this falls into the “abundance of caution” category, but having a secret cell phone suddenly go off could be seriously threatening for some folks.

WaPo has a story about the nationwide alert system test scheduled for Wednesday the 4th, 2:20pm ET, 11:20am California time. The system is intended to send a loud sound to your phone, make it vibrate, and post a push-alert, in case of a national emergency.

Here is a share-link that should get you past the firewall.

On Wednesday at 2:20 p.m. Eastern, most Americans will simultaneously feel their cellphones vibrate, hear them make a loud sound and see a push alert pop up on their screens. Most radio and television stations will broadcast an alert at the same time for about one minute. There is no national emergency, no reason to panic and nothing you need to do about the alerts. It is, as the text will say, just a test. It’s a test of the national emergency alert systems, which are designed to let the government reach hundreds of millions of people in the United States immediately if there is a disaster affecting the entire country. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Communications Commission are conducting the coordinated test to see if the technology is working as designed and if any improvements are needed.

I sent a link to this story to pixxer-son, who replied (my emphasis):

People have been pointing out that this information is important to people who may have secret cell phones, as is the case for some people in abusive relationships or are in other sorts of duress, so forward this notice to anyone who might be in that kind of situation or might have contacts with those who are. This notification might sound on such phones even when others don't , so they need to watch out.

Also, I hope this is the only time the system is ever used...

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/3/2197260/-Caution-Secret-cell-phones-may-reveal-themselves-Wednesday-Nationwide-alert-system-test-2-20pm-ET?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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