[EAS] Hawaii Missile Alert Culprit

[Rod Simon]

I know some of the 23 vendors providing an IPAWS interface the same message verification is used for all regardless if it is test, drill, or real messages.

I have heard from a reliable source that Nixle has changed the web interface since the event and now has bright yellow banners (at least for the test, we suspect that an actual event may be red) asking to verify the level of the alert and then entering the authorization code. 

Prior to moving to Chicago I was a volunteer with a County's Emergency Management Agency and served as the Communication Officer, this is prior to IPAWS or other direct computer notification so mistakes were not as drastic. But we had templates that were named identical but were in different folders of "DRILL" and "EVENT"  with the only difference was the word DRILL watermarked on the form. While most of these templates were internal some were faxed/sent to media outlets and adjoining Counties.  One drill I got a call from another county asking you have a tornado on the ground? Its calm and sunny here! I then asked if the background was covered with the word drill and he said oh so does that mean this isn't real?

Rod Simon
Studio Engineer |  Broadcasting
(312) 329-2065  (630) 885-4342
820 N. LaSalle Blvd., Chicago, IL 60610
moodyradio.org
>From the Word to Life®  

ARE YOU REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?

[TEXT OF MESSAGE]

Then asks that you enter the word YES (not just click on it) and your password.

That should give any doofus (a/k/a "Homer") a chance to stop the alert message without causing a delay.

As my old friend and colleague Tom Croda used to say "There is no such thing as fool-proof.  Fools are too ingenious".

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco 

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