Recently, the FCC www.fcc.gov proposed rules to strengthen Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) www.fcc.gov/guides/wireless-emergencies-alerts-wea to enable better delivery of critical warnings and information to Americans on their wireless phones.
WEA is a public safety system that allows customers who own certain wireless phones and other enabled mobile devices to receive geographically, targeted, test-like messages, and provide alerts on imminent threats.
The proposed changes would be in place to promote the wider use and effectiveness of WEA to make it easier for state and local authorities to send out important information to their communities.
The FCC has proposed changes that are needed to improve the WEA system and reach the right people at the right time. The FCC’s “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (NPRM) seeks to:
- Increase the maximum length of WEA messages from 90 to 360 characters
- Enable alerts to contain embedded phone numbers and URLs to improve message quality and accessibility
- Create a new class of WEA alerts called “Emergency Government Information” to send action-oriented public safety advisories
- Require participating wireless providers to deliver alerts to more granular geographic areas
- Make it easier for state and local authorities to test WEA service and to train personnel
The FCC is also seeking comment on a variety of other potential improvements related to implementing multilingual and multimedia alerts, getting Americans to participate in WEA, and ways to personalize and display the receipt of WEA messages.