[EAS] EAS, CAP and cell phones

[suzanne at mab.org]

As the non-engineer policy wonk on this list, I recall that Sen. Jim DeMint's original WARN Act from a few years ago (S.1753, 109th Congress) actually contained a lot of good stuff about improving EAS, including funding ($250M), mandatory training for system users, and the creation of a national EAS Working Group along the lines of the Partnership for Public Warning.  Unfortunately, after the back-room deal was done, all that was left to be amended into the SAFE PORT Act was the cell-phone piece. I don't know why anyone's surprised at this week's announcement about the cell phone alerting system.  It's been in the works for 5 years.  The cell companies are masters at (1) protecting their own turf (the SAFE PORT Act gave them a pass on liability for undelivered alerts, and the system is strictly voluntary), and (2) doing big splashy PR events.  I hope the broadcast industry plans a similar splashy PR event when we roll out CAP capability.
 

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Suzanne D. Goucher
President & CEO
Maine Association of Broadcasters