this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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People were interested in what it looked like so this is from my phone.

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[–] qx128 206 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

This is why governments should use public infrastructure for public services.

[–] RagingRobot 68 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

I wish the federal government had a software team that made open source software that could be used by all the states.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Imagine if there was a free and open source self hosted alternative to twitter that federated with other social networks...

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

Germany is/was trying something kind of like this? I don't know much about it but here's a link in case you want to try reading into it a bit more.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I think something like code sharing just became a thing in government so I guess it's closer

Edit: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/it-modernization/2025/01/agencies-required-to-share-custom-software-under-new-law/?readmore=1

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Can you imagine a mastodon.whitehouse.gov instance and everyone in the world just defederates with it every time a republican gets inaugerated?

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[–] Anticorp 5 points 3 weeks ago
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[–] [email protected] 196 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Using an url shortener smells like phishing

[–] [email protected] 127 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeh, I can't believe an emergency service (which I would consider a government agency) is using a URL shortener.
No wonder scammers also use URL shorteners. People get desensitized to what they are doing, masking the actual URL

[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I would think they could have a legit .gov url shortener. They're not much code and easy enough to run at scale.

I'd vote for u.gov.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

they gotta recoup them tax dollars

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

They really don't. Just don't spend them on cocaine.

unless they are sharing.... I guess.

[–] [email protected] 78 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

The dumb thing is they can fit quite a bit of text in the alert itself. They don't need to link to anything to provide the relevant info necessary to spot potential suspects or the description of the child.

[–] mesamunefire 19 points 3 weeks ago

Absolutely.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

And no one is gonna bother clicking on that link so they pretty much made it useless

[–] Pyrarrows 8 points 3 weeks ago

Every time I've gotten an Amber Alert on my phone, the phone screams the description of the kid & the suspected car & possibly the suspect themselves on top of showing the entire message on the screen. No idea why anywhere would put all of that info onto Twitter only when this system already exists & really grabs your attention.

[–] [email protected] 60 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

...and then it wants you to make an account, right? :)

[–] mesamunefire 35 points 3 weeks ago
[–] Anticorp 48 points 3 weeks ago

Yah, I've been yelling loudly about this shit for a decade. Nobody cares, especially not the people in the government who can't be bothered to use their own websites.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 3 weeks ago

Just a taste of the deepening US oligarchy, as more public services are gutted in the favour of corpo interests.

[–] mesamunefire 30 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

If this isn't the correct community please let me know. I'm not sure where to post to be honest but it is a picture I suppose.

[–] serpineslair 31 points 3 weeks ago

It's probably fine here, but you could consider [email protected].

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[–] toiletobserver 27 points 3 weeks ago

That's just an amber alert with extra steps

[–] solomon42069 24 points 3 weeks ago

These marketing strategies to get people back on Twitter are getting out of hand!

[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This kind of crap, and the fact that I can't force the sounds to respect DND in my country, are why I turned off Amber Alerts on my phone through adb (or "hacking", to the layperson).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You need to use adb for that? I simply have a setting to disable them.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I have that setting, but it doesn't work in my country.

For some stupid reason, they've decided to send every time of warning message at the "Presidential Level" that's supposed to be reserved for crazy life or death kind of stuff.

The settings are in my phone, but can't actually do anything to the messages coming in.

So I disabled the entire system from my phone and downloaded an app that gives me alerts. Now I'm getting weather alerts again. Haven't had the opportunity to test whether it'll alert me to emergencies yet, thankfully. But I've turned off Amber Alerts in the app.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

Ah fuck, that's annoying. I'm not even sure Amber alerts are a thing in Malaysia, I got one during a business trip to New York years ago that scared the hell out of me since my phone is set to perpetual silent mode with no vibrations, and at like 3 AM it started playing sirens on max volume.

Had it turned off ever since, and only severe threats and storm warnings activated, see those work fine.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago

Missouri does the same. I haven’t been able to see Emergency Alerts since quitting Twitter

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

Jeez! I had one in MI a few months ago where the image of the abductee was a Bookface link you couldn't view unless you were signed in. Just ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 weeks ago

Now I understand. I was confused about why people were going to Xhitter for Amber alerts. Looks like California is the issue for pointing people there in the Amber alert that goes out to phones.

[–] blazeknave 7 points 3 weeks ago

Nixel's system is great for SF and up North. I assumed the whole state used it

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

in the US you get automated messages that blow up your phone when a child is involved in a crime near you.

I turn mine off.

[–] Fondots 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

when a child is involved in a crime near you.

The specifics vary a bit from one state to another but AMBER Alerts are normally reserved for abducted children, usually with some additional requirements like sufficient reason to think the child is in immediate danger of death or injury, and enough of a description of the child and/or the abductor to be able to identify them.

[–] Bonesince1997 5 points 3 weeks ago

Child bank robbers in your area!

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