Should Netflix and Hulu give you emergency alerts?

Sat Mar 9 19:04:33 UTC 2019

On Fri, 8 Mar 2019, Matt Erculiani wrote:
> The world is evolving and I don't think interrupting streaming is necessary
> given all the other ways there are to alert a population.

The headline:

TLDR; Technology changes, so should emergency alerts. Think ahead to 2029.

The long story:

Technology changes over the decades.  Emergency alerts have changed over 
the decades. If you think all the other ways are sufficient, remember how 
long it took to create all those other ways. And how much industry fought
all those other ways at every step.

The U.S. timeline (other countries have state-owned broadcasters, and 
different timelines):

1950s - AM radio and civil defense sirens

1960s - FM radio and TV broadcasts were included in EBS

1970s - Weather alerts and NOAA weather radio

1990s - Cable TV (not satellite) was included in EAS.

2000s - Satellite TV was added to national EAS alerts, i.e. there has 
never been a national EAS alert. But Satellite TV do not get state or 
local weather alerts on most channels.

2012 - Mobile phones were included with WEA expansion

If streaming is how the public gets their information and entertainment 
now, that should also be how they can get emergency alerts.

Almost no one under the age of 30 has a working AM radio in their homes or 
apartments anymore. Few people listen to FM radio outside of their cars, 
and "cord-cutting" means fewer people get local and weather alerts 
watching entertainment programs on cable TV. Cities have been eliminating 
outdoor warning sirens due to budget cuts since the 1990s (i.e. end of 
the Cold War, and no more FEMA funds for sirens).

Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), i.e., mobile phone alerts, are less than 
10 years old. And mostly on the high-end expensive cell phones and the 
most expensive carriers. People on NANOG may use mostly expensive 
smartphones, but not everyone can afford smartphones. Only about 100 
carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, carrier have WEA 
working. In some U.S. territories and rural areas, no cellular providers 
have WEA working. The largest cellular carrier in Alaska only activated 
WEA in the last 6 months. Puerto Rico's largest cellular carrier 
activated WEA just last month.

The mobile cell phone industry fought Wireless Emergency Alerts for over a 
decade, from the 1990s until 2012 when it was implemented. Of course, now 
the wireless industry claims it was all their idea. Both are true. The 
cellular industry engineers made it happen, at the same time the cellular 
industry lobbyists were fighting it.

If emergency alerts didn't change with the technology, it would still be 
only AM radios. It usually takes at least a decade after technology 
changes to make changes to the emergency alert parts of those systems.
It took more than 10 years after the 9/11/2001 attacks and Hurricane 
Katrina, which were the motivating factors for government, to get WEA 
working.

If you think WEA is sufficient, just remember how long it takes to change. 
In 2029, what communication technology will be the dominant way people get 
entertainment and information?

As I've said before, I think emergency alerts should be part of the 
platform, not the add on service.  Netflix and Hulu are the wrong layer 
for emergency alerts.  Emergency alerts should be part of the Smart TV and 
Smart Speaker operating system platforms, i.e., at the Amazon Alexa, 
Google Assistant, Apple Siri, etc. level.

If you are streaming Netflix or Hulu on your mobile cell phone, the cell 
phone OS should be responsible for handling local emergency alerts. If you 
are streaming Netflix or Hulu on your Smart TV, the Smart TV OS should be 
responsible for handling local emergency alerts.  If you are streaming 
Netflix or Hulu on your Smart Speakers (ok, you can't but lets say 
streaming an Audible book), your Smart Speaker OS should be responsible 
for local emergency alerts.  Your alerting opt-outs, geo-targeting, and 
other preferences shouldn't need to change depending on which App you are 
using on the platform.

NOAA Weather Wire and FEMA IPAWS emergency alerts, which are the alert 
aggregation points for most U.S. alerting systems, include geographic 
alert polygons within 0.1 mile. Emergency alerts can be very localized. 
Although training for local government officials is skimped, underfunded, 
ignored, etc.; so many still send alerts for entire jurisdictions, such 
as statewide in the U.S. or province-wide in Canada instead of 
geo-targeting specific areas.

Cell phones have ATIS and 3GPP standard for emergency alerts. Cable 
set-top boxes have SCTE standards for emergency alerts. TVs with 
antennas have ATSC standards for emergency alerts.  Analog radio still 
relies on broadcasters transmitting emergency alerts, i.e. that triple 
burst of modem noise.

ISPs are also part of that, since ISPs know where their subscribers are 
geographically located.

And yes, I'm a big believer in personal choice. Individual alert
opt-outs and geo-targeting is critical. I think Canada (and New Zealand, 
and some other countries) are making a mistake by using the "mandatory" 
alert setting for all alerts. I also believe emergency alerts should 
be accessible to everyone, not just rich people with the most expensive 
smart phones and carriers.