FCC updates Emergency Alert System to prevent false alarms

Earlier this year, the people of Hawaii received an emergency alert on their phone. This alert read:

Emergency Alert

BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL

As you can probably now tell, a missile did not hit Hawaii in January 2018. This message, which explicitly said was “not a drill,” indeed turned out to be just that: a drill. The test message was mistakenly sent out as an actual emergency alert. However, at the time, it took nearly 40 minutes for officials to issue a correction about the alert, sending pretty much everyone on the island in a confused state of panic.

In response to the false alarm in Hawaii, which occurred when a state emergency employee hit the wrong option on a drop-down menu, the FCC is taking steps to make the Emergency Alert System more reliable.

Local and state officials will now be able to carry out “live code” tests of the Emergency Alert System. This would allow tests to be conducted with all the alert protocols and sounds of an actual alert, but fully planned, labeled as a test, and with prior notifications of the test for the general public.

The FCC also unveiled that public service announcements about the Emergency Alert System will now present itself as an actual emergency alert. With these new procedures, it looks like the Commission is making moves to normalize these alerts so tests can be carried out without the worry of an error leading to a widespread panic.

In their announcement, the FCC also outlines the processes that need to be taken and requires the Commission to be contacted, in the event that another false emergency alert is sent out.

These changes to the Emergency Alert System look like they could be helpful in preventing the next false “there is a missile about to hit your state” alarm. However, these FCC updates don’t really seem to prevent what actually caused the Hawaii panic in the first place: human error thanks to bad user interface.