Today (Sunday), the government is set to send an emergency alert out to mobile devices up and down the country. The nationwide test will say how it plans to keep families informed in the event of an actual real-life emergency, such as severe flooding, extreme weather, or fires.
A siren is set to sound and devices will vibrate once the government hits send. Your device may even read out the alert, which is set to last a maximum of 10 seconds.
Since the alert was announced, people have been split by its usefulness, with some politicians leading the charge to encourage phone users to turn them off. Fact-checkers say there has also been misinformation spread about the alert.
Pippa Allen-Kinross, News and Online Editor at Full Fact, said, “We have seen multiple instances in which bad information about the emergency alert has already been shared thousands of times online. Be careful what you share on social media. Misinformation about this alert may lead to unnecessary alarm, and in some instances, may even cause people to opt out of future alerts (as many online have claimed they already have) based on incorrect information."
Five myths about the emergency alert
1. The emergency alert will access your personal data
When an alert is triggered, all cell towers in the area concerned will broadcast the alert to connected devices. The government doesn’t need to know your location or phone number to do this. The Cabinet Office confirmed to Full Fact that no personal data is collected by the alert.
2. The alert will not be a text message you need to reply to
The alert will not be a message that needs to be replied to, but a notification that will need to be acknowledged before you can keep using your phone as normal. It will include a website link containing further information.
The Cabinet Office says phone calls won’t go to voicemail if you haven’t acknowledged the alert and the alert won’t stop a phone call in progress. Other notifications will also still come through to your phone. However, in order to answer a call or view notifications, you will need to acknowledge the alert.
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3. Emergency Alerts won’t match personal data with information collected during the pandemic
Claims on social media suggesting that the emergency alert system will allow personal data to be collected, and that this will be matched with data collected when people signed into venues during the Covid-19 pandemic, are not true. The Cabinet Office has confirmed that alerts will not collect personal data. The alerts will also not enable the government to know if phones are active or where they are.
The government website describes the alert as “one-way” and confirms that the alert does not require the government to know any individual phone numbers. Since no data is collected by the Emergency Alert system, it isn’t possible for it to be matched with personal data collected during the pandemic. Besides, the NHS Covid-19 app did not share personal information, such as someone’s name and address, with local authorities. It shared the time and date an infected person visited a venue.
4. The emergency alert test will not ‘breach GDPR’
Full Fact identified claims online suggesting that phone network providers have breached GDPR by allowing the emergency alert to take place. Generally speaking, GDPR legislation dictates how personal data is used by organisations, businesses and the government.
When an alert is triggered, mobile phone masts broadcast it to every compatible phone and tablet within range. The government won’t be using your personal data, like your mobile phone number, to do this.
This means that your phone network provider has not breached GDPR “by giving your number to another agency outside of your permission”, because the alerts are simply sent to phones that are connected to cell towers, not via a list of numbers that networks have given the government.
5. The alert is not an “activation signal” to activate the “pathogen in the shot”
There have been claims on social media that the emergency alert test is an “activation signal” to activate the “pathogen in the shot”. This appears to be a reference to the Covid-19 vaccines—we’ve often seen the term “the shot” used this way on social media, although none of the posts directly specify that they relate to Covid-19 vaccines.
There’s no way a signal from a cell tower could “activate” a pathogen or anything that was in the Covid-19, or any other, vaccine. Dr Al Edwards, associate professor in biomedical technology at the University of Reading, told Full Fact: “There is no mechanism known to physics or biology that could connect radio signals set by mobile phone data systems, to the biological or chemical materials found in vaccines.”
