"... warning sirens...only truly reliable method..."
"Truly reliable"? Radio controlled?
Has radio jamming recently been un-invented?
Researchers have uncovered a remote hijacking vulnerability present in the systems many cities and organizations are using to manage emergency sirens and alerts. Dubbed SirenJack, the vulnerability would allow an attacker to remotely activate emergency alert systems manufactured by a company called ATI Systems. Bastille said …
Hmmmm. I can't say that the idea doesn't appeal - I am a sick b@$tard in many ways and really shouldn't be encouraged. But it doesn't help the fully blind - not unless they're lucky enough to be downwind of the stench of burning hair and molten flesh and/or within earshot of the sounds of crackling flesh (not to mention the screams of agony and terror).
Also, whilst a small remote control pyrotechnic device could light them remotely were the shortcomings of the whole remote activation process not the very thing your approach was intended to surmount?
But it doesn't help the fully blind
I assumed the portable beacons would be attached to the heads of the blind citizens. Even the most occularly challenged would be aware of the alarm once their own ear wax began melting.
the shortcomings of the whole remote activation process
True, perhaps equipping guide dogs with some sort of easily paw operated initiator (a'la Willey Coyote) would be more practical
I assumed the portable beacons would be attached to the heads of the blind citizens. Even the most occularly challenged would be aware of the alarm once their own ear wax began melting.
So did I ... I just didn't think it through properly - on the plus side though, it did provide an opportunity to mention the stench of burning hair and melting flesh, so it's an ill wind and all that.
True, perhaps equipping guide dogs with some sort of easily paw operated initiator (a'la Willey Coyote) would be more practical
Well, it'd have to be better than charades, wouldn't it?
Something I saw on TV made me go "WTF !?"
A Hearing-Dog-For-The-Deaf.
WTF!?
Is the dog trained to spell words out by biting its owner a set number of times? Or does it carry a typewriter around with it? Or a set of cards with letters on them or something? Maybe it does charades: six taps of the paw, wag tail, one paw, wiggle ear means "Six words...First Word...Sounds like....Shit! I was gonna say watch out, there's a car coming but judging from the look on your face as it hit you I guess you've already figured it out"
But for the blind, well, barks (or even bites), something, yeah.
Maybe the solution would be to set fire to the dog?
People would notice that alright - even the sighted/hearing!
What, like laugh?
Master, master, the phone is ringing, master?
What are you telling me for, dog? As if it weren't bad enough being deaf but the dog's gotta rub my nose in it too.
Exactly, master. Remember that time I had an accident in the kitchen? Remember what you did to me? The phone's ringing, master! Answer the phone, master! Master, answer the phone! The phone's ringing!
You could always save your $30, and just make one phone call.
Social engineering, the most powerful of all the engineering disciplines.
In Hawaii, it just happens when you click the wrong button in the UI.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/01/14/hawaii-missile-alert-how-one-employee-pushed-the-wrong-button-and-caused-a-wave-of-panic/
(ok it's a link to the 'washington bleep' but still...)
yeah, that's the cover story. social engineering notwithstanding.
Seriously the design goal is that in case of an emergency there will be an alert. False alerts are not really a big problem, unless they actually happen rather often. So for example using TLS as part of your protocol, would be a problem as there is a chance it might fail because of expiring certificates or because there was some intermittent power outage causing the clock to be wrong.
"False alerts are not really a big problem, unless they actually happen rather often."
False alerts are a huge problem, even if they're rare. There's a reason the parable of the boy who called wolf exists, and it would only take one or two false alerts for people to lose trust in the system. Hell, just look at people's behaviour when a fire alarm goes off, even in a building that has never had a false alarm - a significant number of people will almost always refuse to take it seriously.
And of course, that's on top of the significant economic damage and disruption that could be caused by forcing everyone in a city to drop what they're doing and leave work. At best, you're looking at the best part of a day's work and the equivalent of millions of pounds being lost. Throw in injuries and the like caused during the panic, potential for looting while people are out, and so on, and the effects of even a single false alarm can be very serious. Just look at the already mentioned Hawaii screw-up - blocked roads, reckless driving, jammed phone lines preventing emergency calls being made, delayed flights, and so on - and that was a partial text alert with no sirens, early in the morning, that was cancelled in under 40 minutes.
Sure, you don't want your system to fail to give a real alert, but you really don't want it giving out false alerts either.
Though what you were supposed to do it the alarm went off is anyone's guess
I believe the standard advice is : go the smallest room in the house, sit down, put your head between you knees, ... and kiss your a**e goodbye. Icon representative of one occasion when this manoeuvre might be appropriate.
I remember as a kid at school hearing the broadmoor sirens being tested i think Tuesday mornings at 11, and then hearing it going off one late winter afternoon. We where advised to stay in doors etc. At least we all new what it was and what to do, i think a city wide siren would be more terrifying especially not knowing what threat we should be expecting.
i think a city wide siren would be more terrifying especially not knowing what threat we should be expecting
Back in the early 1980s, I was in Wolverhampton town centre when the Cold War nuclear attack sirens went off. Not a pre-announced test, not a short burst, a good three minutes of wwoooooooOOOOOOOO
wwwwwwwwOOOOOwwwwwww (if I remember the spelling right), announcing to the Wolverese that in a few minutes, Russian nuclear missiles were going to vapourise them (although arguably property damage would be difficult to prove).
And you know what people did? Nothing. Diddly squat. They didn't even talk about it, they just ignored it and continued with their shopping. Which is a very sensible thing to do in the circumstances, but rather begs the question of why bother with the sirens.