a few hours ago citizens of the Community of Madrid received a message from Civil Protection which highlighted in Spanish and English the risks associated with the red alert currently in force in the center of the peninsula due to expected heavy rains, forecasts in which the communities of Madrid and Toledo are taking the lead. but they threaten a large part of the peninsula and the Balearic Archipelago. So, before we get down to business, we must first ask the residents of the affected areas to be very careful and wish that the consequences of the rainfall are as mild as possible.

But not, the reason for this message is not to talk about DANA it afflicts much of the country, but rather the enormous amount of noise that has been and continues to be produced as a result of the message which, as I indicated at the beginning, has been accepted by the vast majority of people who are currently in Madrid. A report that has caused controversy for various reasons, mainly two.

The first thing, before we get to the heart of the matter, is to remember that this civil protection warning message is not something that should surprise us because, as we told you at the time, the population was immediately informed, as you can recall in this news from tests of the population warning system in the final phase before the completion of its implementation, which has been a reality for several months. We already explained how it worked in the mentioned article, but since the reality that occurred today showed that many people still do not know about it, it is worth repeating these points.

⚠️ Es-ALERT message ⚠️

OF #ASEM112 We sent an alert to all mobile phones in the region with basic recommendations for #DANA.

Please keep an eye on them. #Madrid112 #INUNCAME #IsAlert #storm#DANASeptember pic.twitter.com/oQVTJMOEJV

— 112 Community of Madrid (@112cmadrid) September 3, 2023

As I said, Civil Protection issued an emergency message that resonated with a large number of Android and iOS phones, an alarm that is limited to specific geographic areas. And this point is relevant to part of the doubts and complaints of many people on social networks, especially on X (formerly Twitter): these messages are not sent to specific people or numbers, but to mobile phone antennas that broadcast them to everyone. terminals that are currently connected to them.

To understand us, Civil Protection in this particular case ASEM 112 (Madrid Security and Emergency Agency), did not send a message to Manolo Fulanito and María Menganita or to specific phone numbers. No, the emergency management system determines the areas affected by them, it selects all cell towers in the affected area and issues a mass message. So this system does not violate people’s privacy, just as it happens when we listen to a message that is broadcast through the local radio.

I was surprised that from politicians to journalists and across the ideological spectrum, questioning this point and this systemconfirming that we are facing some kind of Orwellian politics, that the government has a back door to get into our phones… in short, I have no doubt that there are surveillance and control systems, as well as advanced tools for such purposes, but from here to the qualification of an emergency notification system as tools of indoctrination and espionage… in short, it’s a long way.

To make it even clearer, civil protection messages are used using the cellular broadcast function that is part of the second generation mobile phone standards (GSM) and which, as far as we are concerned, takes it stands out for being an unconfirmed push service, so the sender of the message will never know which users received it. There is no threat to privacy, just as a radio station cannot know that we are listening to it when we tune into the receiver.

Which brings me to another point, also a very important one, that has been questioned, the universal scope of messages of this type. Immediate interpretation, by people to whom I admit I attributed greater intellectual solvency, confirmed that it was an instrument in the service of the government, that it could use it to send messages to the population as a whole, even if the members were opposed to its adoption. i.e, they assumed they were getting yes or yes messages, which is wrong.

As we said last October, two mobile operating systems allow you to activate or deactivate the receipt of warning messages from the Civil Protection. And for those who want to check their current configuration and if they wish to modify it, I remember what we said back then and what still fully applies:

• Android: access the settings and in the settings look for the section dedicated to wireless alerts, broadcasting settings, mobile broadcasting and so on. When you access it, you’ll see the types of notifications you can enable and disable. Edit them as you like.

• iOS: on the Apple system, you will need to go to Settings, then Notifications, and in this section, scroll to the end (you will have to go through all the applications you have installed) until you find the ES-ALERT section, in which you will see the item “Civil Protection Advance Alerts” , which you can activate and deactivate according to your preferences.

Personally, and as someone who came very close to being swept away by a flood along with his family, in a flash flood that completely inundated what had been his home until then, you will understand that I recommend everyone to keep these notifications turned on.. On that occasion I was/are saved by a miracle, but it was a matter of seconds, whereas being able to receive a message a few minutes in advance would have been much safer.

Another controversy surrounding the civil protection warning message has to do with its urgency. In this context, I have to admit that it is something really scandalousin my case, it sounded simultaneously on two smartphones that I use regularly, and I would be a liar if I denied that I had a good scare, and not because of the content of the notification, since I was already quite well informed about it in advance, but because the sound alarm it is really strong.

So I completely understand that there are people who felt annoyed by this, although I also understand that these types of messages have such an incisive format. After all, let’s not forget that these are warnings of an emergency, of a risk that seriously threatens our security, and depending on the circumstances, immediate response can make a huge difference in the final consequences.

Would it make sense to be able to set some additional configuration settings for how we receive these types of messages? Maybe, but we have to remember that they were designed to maximize their effectiveness. Maybe it would be less “aggressive” if its initial volume was lower and increased? Probably, but in that case it would be necessary to think until finding the sweet spot between “aggressiveness” and speed of reaction, so that in any case it should be a relatively fast development, and that we have to think about emergency situations in which it will be decisive response speed.

And the last controversy, a smaller one but one I also found references to, is that the notice was issued in English. However, it should be clarified at this point that it was sent in both languages, Spanish and English. Which again leads me to remember that these messages are massively spread via cellular diffusion, meaning the sender has no record of the native language of the person receiving them.

Let’s remember that the Madrid community receives a significant amount of international tourism throughout the year and that during their stay in Madrid (as in any other place in the country, if relevant) they must also be informed about these possibilities. I think arguing this point is not pointless, but frankly absurd.. It would be terrible if the message was only sent in that language, of course, and in that case I would completely understand the anger, but as you can see in the picture above, which is on my personal phone, there are two messages received, the one that displays on the screen that is in English along with the same but in Spanish.

So to summarize the essentials (which in English is usually defined by the now famous “TL:DR”), civil protection news they are sent and received completely anonymouslydo not violate privacy, can be deactivated on Android and iOS (although I personally recommend not doing this) and, without a doubt, the most important thing: if you find yourself in one of the areas affected by DANA, please be very careful.