Web left out of emergency alert testing

At 11 a.m. Pacific Time, 2 p.m. Eastern today, for the first time ever, FEMA activated the Emergency Alert System nationwide. Everyone watching television or listening to the radio got the familiar alert tone on their show, and had to sit through the "this is only a test" message for 30 seconds.

And everyone on the Web had no idea that the EAS was being tested.

The broadcast-based Emergency Alert System is "decades old," FEMA's Rachel Racusen told me, and it's never been tested nationwide all at once. All tests so far have been regional or local. It is critical, she said, that the government finds out if this old system can work on a national scale.

Meantime, we have a population that is spending increasing amounts of time glued to mobile devices and the Internet, communication platforms that the EAS does not address.

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However, FEMA and the Dept of Homeland Security are working on a more contemporary system to augment the EAS. The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) will, it's hoped, be able to send emergency messages to mobile devices and to Web sites.

Pieces of the system, in particular mobile alerts, are already being tested in some cities.

The exact mechanisms that the IPAWS system would use to break into a Web platform to send an emergency message are still being worked out. For TV and radio, the old EAS system sends a code to stations that authorizes it to break into the broadcast stream. PAWS will likely use a similar system to get a site's attention: Web site owners will have to set up their servers to recognize and authorize the incoming emergency code. Sites will also have to be configured to display the incoming message in some way. In talking to Racusen, I did not get the impression that there was any intention to intercept actual Web services at the DNS level.

[henryB39]

In my zip code 91405 Van Nuys, California, the message was on the screen for 25 MINUTES, not 30 seconds. I have Time Warner Cable and I was watching Fox News.

[barbaram99]

I don't know if it went off or not..I was out. If the power goes out..I have a battery powered radio that I have never used. If they use a tone and say nothing..It fails . They need to say what it is,,The print is not going to help us that can't see it..

[skeezix06]

It is sort of dumb when you stop to think about it. If someone is attacking, they're either attacking with low tech which means they're limited in their attack or they're attacking with something far worse and the EAS is little more than a "you're going to die" warning.

If the warning is accurate we're supposed to do ....what? Get in the car and create traffic jams? Crawl under a desk and cry? Grab a gun and start shoot someone, anyone, under the mistaken notion that we are defending ourselves from an unknown threat?

If they knock out the power grid, the areas affected by the attack aren't going to hear or see the warning because a tv usually doesn't work when the electricity is out. If they put it on the computers and I'm working and my computer stops because of a warning, I'm not going to be happy.

[cliffndort]

"Everyone watching television or listening to the radio got the familiar alert tone on their show, and had to sit through the "this is only a test" message for 30 seconds."

Wrong here too! Had my TV on all day long in NC. No tone, no nothing. Once again FEMA does a bang up job. What a joke.

[henryB39]

In my zip code 91405 Van Nuys, California, the message was on the screen for 25 MINUTES, not 30 seconds. I have Time Warner Cable.

[atomicwaste]

Much ado about nothing. Phoenix TV had no alert sound just a very quick slide announcing test. All over in a few seconds. Shows the feds are impotent in yet another area. No wonder states have to do or enforce most things on their own. Whether its immigration, education, or emergency preparedness the feds are AWOL.

[henryB39]

In my zip code 91405 Van Nuys, California, the message was on the screen for 25 MINUTES, not 30 seconds. I have Time Warner Cable.

[rightbehind]

If FEMA has anything to do with it shut it down. Recall all FEMA credit cards. I personally know a guy and his wife that are FEMA volunteers. They are deadbeats. The wife took the FEMA credit card, rented a car with it, bailed her son out of jail and they drove to Florida. The son got drunk and wrecked the car at the taxpayers expense. Shut FEMA down!

[MObehr56]

Nada on the food network either. Got the warning before and the thanks after but that was it.

[henryB39]

In my zip code 91405 Van Nuys, California, the message was on the screen for 25 MINUTES, not 30 seconds. I have Time Warner Cable and I was watching Fox News.

[idiotforreading]

I would be pretty paranoid if the governemnt took control of the internet for any reason at all.

[jwoolman5]

I was watching Nickelodeon and there was definitely no test at 2 pm EST or any time over the next half hour or so. A few minutes before 2 pm, they ran a banner at the bottom of the screen warning about it coming, and earlier than that there was a guy talking about it in between show segments. Then 2 pm came and - nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nothing at 3 pm either, in case they forgot about the time change...

I was thinking the same thing about the web, though. If they really want to freak people out - have the net go down for a few minutes!!!

[henryB39]

In my zip code 91405 Van Nuys, California, the message was on the screen for 25 MINUTES, not 30 seconds. I have Time Warner Cable and I was watching Fox News.

[ConservativeTennessean]

Try searching Google for "EAS test failed". The news ranking stories tell you all you need to know about the corrupt Obama administration and how they are controlling (either directly or in concert) most information.

Utter incompetence - that we MUST pay for ... pathetic.