A very well written a balanced article about complaints received about the alert system implemented on cell phones: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mobile-emergency-alert-system-amber-alert-1.4662609
CBC thought it necessary to bring up some of the same issues that I and many others have about this alert system.
First and foremost, this CBC article recognizes that these messages can deliver important information. It also addresses the official position of the OPP saying that they will use all possible methods to inform people about missing children, as this most recent alert was about a child who was missing but then thankfully found safe.
Discussed was the repetitive nature of th alerts and how 4 messages were sent out saying exactly the same thing. Also brought up is how people have alredy started to possibly condition themselves to ignore alerts. A security expert was interviewed and he metioned how this could actually diminish peoples' awareness and alertness levels.
Apparently, there is a way for messages to be regionalized, but it appears that some alerts are going out across the entire province, prompting talk about the relevance of some alerts.
The concept of turning off your phone was mentioned and that people could also turn the sound on their phones off. However, as we already know, this doesn't always work, and that on some phones, the alert sound went off anyway (in the case of phones in muted mode).
It's reported that the cell phone carriers wanted customers to be able to opt out of this system. Customers also have to be connected to an LTE network to receive alerts. If that is true, some people will just force their phones to not connect to an LTE network.
Clearly, this alert sysytem will be able to save some lives. There have been some reported glitches of some people not receiving alert messages (I never received the test messages), so this system appears to be a work in progress.
