Snippet: AMBER Alerts on iOS 6 ☇

Lex Friedman explains Wireless Emergency Alerts, their limitations, and why you shouldn’t disable them, even if they can be annoying:

The biggest risk is that iPhone owners (and owners of other smartphones with WEA support) will disable Amber Alerts because of the annoyance factor. And yes, you can disable the alerts if you don’t want to see (and hear) them: Go to the Settings app, choose Notifications, and scroll all the way down.

Of course, if more people turn them off, Amber Alerts unsurprisingly become less effective. That 4 a.m. Amber Alert in New York led to a tip that led to the capture of the alleged abductor…

…It’s clear that the system could improve. But you might decide to leave Amber Alerts enabled on your device even before that improvement comes, even if it never does. The Find My iPhone feature doesn’t respect your phone’s Do Not Disturb setting, either. If it’s good enough for your phone, it’s good enough for someone else’s kid.

I’m glad this functionality is now part of iOS, and I think that over time, authorities will learn to make the best use of its 90 characters (although it would be better if we didn’t have to use this at all).