Rick Nelson

Cell-phone AMBER alerts
May 25, 2007

I just received an exhortation from CTIA—The Wireless Association to sign up to receive AMBER alerts on my cell phone, in recognition of National Missing Children's Day, observed today, May 25: “The wireless industry, in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and the US Department of Justice…reminds wireless consumers of the vital role they can play to aid in the recovery of abducted children by registering to receive free Wireless AMBER Alerts. Nearly 30 wireless carriers, which collectively serve over 93% of all US wireless subscribers, currently offer the Wireless AMBER Alerts program to their subscribers.”

The CTIA press release urges “wireless users to go to www.wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up at no cost to receive free text messages anytime an AMBER Alert has been issued in their area.”

It sounds like a good idea, but I’m somewhat hesitant for some reason to sign up. My main concern is that the system could be used for non-emergency purposes. Many of the highway AMBER alert signs around here often seem to be used to cheer on the local sports teams. That’s fine. I have no problem with that when there is no emergency information to convey. But I don’t want that type of message on my cell phone.

Another concern is whether cell phones really offer any benefits not already available through other channels, including radio and TV as well as the highway signs. And might cell-phone users reading the alerts while driving cause more harm than good?

The official US government official AMBER Alert site lists success stories, but none seem cell-phone related (perhaps because the wireless program is new).

Any thoughts? Has anyone signed up for this program?

Posted by Rick Nelson on May 25, 2007 | Comments (0)