The test message will run on Sunday at 3PM local time. (Representative)
London:
The UK will conduct its first test of a new emergency alert service on Sunday, with millions of mobile phones sounding a loud alarm and vibrating at 3:00pm (1400 GMT).
National systems based on similar schemes in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States aim to warn the public if there is a danger to life nearby but have generated criticism over “nanny state” intrusions.
A message will say: “This is a test of Emergency Alert, a new UK government service that will alert you if there is a life-threatening emergency nearby.”
Emergency services and governments hope to use the system to alert people to issues such as severe flooding and fires.
The 10-second alarm, which will sound even when the phone is on silent, is expected to disrupt entertainment and sporting events, including Premier League football matches.
Organizers of the World Snooker Championship will halt play just before the alert, while the Society of London Theaters has advised its members to ask spectators to turn off their phones.
Drivers have been warned not to pick up their phones during the test, and those who don’t want to receive alerts can opt out in their device settings.
Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said, “Keep calm and carry on. It’s the British way and that’s exactly what the country will do when they get this test alert at 3:00 this afternoon.”
“The number-one job of government is to keep people safe and this is another tool in the toolkit for emergency situations.”
‘Horrible’
But some Conservatives have criticized the plan, with former minister Jacob Rees-Mogg urging people to heed the government’s calls and “turn off unnecessary and intrusive alerts”.
“It’s back to nanny state – warning us, telling us, mocking us when instead they should just be letting people get on with their lives,” he said.
Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, the ex-wife of government minister Michael Gove, called the plans “horrible”.
He wrote, “This Sunday, at 3 p.m. … the government intends to rattle our collective cages by invading our mobile phones — and our privacy — with its absurd emergency test signal. As terrifying as this notion is, It’s just as exhausting.”
“Horrible because it’s a reminder of the tyranny imposed on all of us by technology that has invaded our homes like Japanese knotweed, infiltrating every aspect of our daily lives,” she said.
But Judy Edworthy, an international expert on alarm systems and professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth, said the alert system was a positive development, even if its first broadcast took people by surprise.
“Despite the message that this is a test, I expect some people may well be baffled,” he told the Domestic Press Association.
“If it gets people to look at their phones and read the message, and then act on it, then it can be said to have worked,” he said.
Lawmakers also criticized the decision to award the lucrative IT contract for the alert system to Fujitsu, the Japanese firm responsible for faulty software in the post office system that led to innocent sub-postmasters being found guilty of fraud.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)