November 9th EAS Test-Complete Communication Shutdown?

[tvranesic]

Does anyone know if the Emergency Alert System test on November 9th will be a complete communication shutdown? Does the test include the internet? If so, how will that affect internet transactions that just happen to be scheduled for 2:00 p.m., bank transfers, securities trades, online auctions, etc.? I didn't think the internet was part of the EAS, so I'm curious as to why DHS would include the internet. I'm also curious as to why they would chose 2:00 p.m. (EDT) to do the test. The NWS does them locally at 11:00 a.m. and I seem to recall tv broadcasts used to do them late at night. Regardless of whether there was ever an intent to show just how much control the government can exert, it's certainly going to have that effect given the chosen time.

 

[Codger_64]

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test-eas

It doesn't mention including phones or the webz.

 

[tvranesic]

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test-eas

It doesn't mention including phones or the webz.

Yeah, I had already read the FAQ section and saw no mention of the internet. However, other sources are saying all satellite communications and internet would also be included. This would include cell phones, land line communications, et al. I just can't see that happening, but the FCC site seems somewhat vague on what's included and what's not.

 

[Preacher Man]

Yeah, I had already read the FAQ section and saw no mention of the internet. However, other sources are saying all satellite communications and internet would also be included. This would include cell phones, land line communications, et al. I just can't see that happening, but the FCC site seems somewhat vague on what's included and what's not.

From the page linked by Codger:

EAS alerts are transmitted over television and radio broadcast, satellite television and satellite radio, cable television and wireline video services.

Will the test involve mobile communications devices?

No. The test will involve only those communications service providers – broadcast radio and television, cable television, satellite radio and television and wireline video services – that participate in the EAS.

So, no phone, cell phone, or Internet provider services should be affected. Internet based TV and radio services MAY be included, but that is still just TV and radio. If you have never seen or heard the EAS through those services before, you shouldn't get it through those this time either.

 

[tvranesic]

From the page linked by Codger:

Thanks...I don't know how in the world I missed the "mobile communication devices" part. In going back and looking at some of references to internet, cell phones, "all communications", etc, it seems like some of the conspiracy theorists have some time on their hands and are taking this one to some extremes. If it's just going to be an EAS test on a national scale I wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal or have any buried political motivations.

 

[Preacher Man]

Thanks...I don't know how in the world I missed the "mobile communication devices" part. In going back and looking at some of references to internet, cell phones, "all communications", etc, it seems like some of the conspiracy theorists have some time on their hands and are taking this one to some extremes. If it's just going to be an EAS test on a national scale I wouldn't think it would be that big of a deal or have any buried political motivations.

To err is human... which is why we all do it every so often.

As for the conspiracy theorists, we will always have them, and the anonymity and greater audience of the Internet seems to encourage them to new, more exaggerated heights.

 

[timcsaw]

So how'd the test go anyway?

Emergency Alert System Fails
It’s only funny because there wasn’t an emergency.
by John Hayward

Today was the first test of the new Emergency Alert System, which is a centrally controlled version of the Emergency Broadcast System whose tests have been annoying the hell out of people for the better part of fifty years. The idea is to give the President a way to alert the entire populace to a national emergency instantly, by seizing control of all TV and radio communications.

In the event of a nuclear war, large-scale civil unrest, a massive cyber-attack, or a zombie apocalypse, you’ll hear a headache-inducing tone, followed by emergency instructions. Unless we get attacked by an electromagnetic pulse weapon. Then you’ll be alerted to disaster by the collective howl of millions of enraged cell phone users. The EAS tone is less alarming.

The test was a… well, “failure” is such an ugly word. Let’s just say it was a “conditional success.” As reported by the New York Times:

 

[Codger_64]

Conelrad v.2.0 was a bust. But then look at who was in charge:

Many of the reported failures affected cable and satellite television subscribers, and some were quite puzzling. Some DirecTV subscribers said their TV sets played the Lady Gaga song “Paparazzi” when the test was under way. Some Time Warner Cable subscribers in New York said the test never appeared on screen. Some Comcast subscribers in northern Virginia said their TV sets were switched over to QVC before the alert was shown.

The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency were the two agencies in charge of the test.“We always knew that there would probably be some things that didn’t work and some things that did,” a FEMA official said an hour after the test. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agencies had not publicly acknowledged the glitches yet.

 

[timcsaw]

Conelrad v.2.0 was a bust. But then look at who was in charge:

I loved this final bit by John Hayward;

Americans have become accustomed to their government spending staggering amounts of money on crap that doesn’t work, so today’s Emergency Alert System test was pretty much par for the course. Compared to “green energy” programs, it was a smashing success, unless you happen to live in sparsely populated areas like Chattanooga or New York City. Just keep your ears peeled in the future, as you will probably hear either a warning tone and important instructions, or a Lady Gaga song, within ten minutes or so of a major national catastrophe.