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January 5, 2005
This is a great idea
While the Toronto Star was pulling publicity stunts in today's edition, the National Post was offering a constructive suggestion.
In its editorial the Post suggests governments use mobile phones to put out the word about potential emergency situations like the Asian Tsunami. The editorial notes that even in poor countries mobile phones have become common-place and that it would not be that a simple text message like, "Tsunami alert: Evacuate beach areas" could have saved lives on Boxing Day.
I think it is a great idea. It would not be difficult for governments to enter into the same kinds of agreements they have with broadcasters in case of emergency. Under those agreements governments can direct broadcasters to convey important information such as civil defense warnings to the public.
If such a system were established, it wouldn't be the first. In the days after the World Trade Center attacks, Research In Motion send messages to all of its Blackberry subscribers, asking them to respond if they were trapped in the rubble.
Kudos to the Post for putting the idea out for discussion.
Posted by maxthecat on January 5, 2005 at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
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