Start date for wireless emergency alert system still not set: CRTC

OTTAWA — Following a wireless emergency alert in the United States that falsely warned of a ballistic missile attack, representatives from the CRTC and Pelmorex Corp. told a Senate committee that alert issuers will be responsible for such incidents once Canada’s alerting system gets started, at a date that is still up in the air. “What the CRTC has said...is that false messages are the responsibility of the alert issuer,” said Scott Shortliffe, the CRTC’s chief consumer officer and executive director. “Because the question was raised by wireless service providers, saying if a false alert is sent out and transmitted, are we liable?” He added: “the commission took the position of saying no, the person who issues the alert is responsible for the contents.” There are 988 such issuing authorities in Canada, he said later during his appearance. Hawaii’s false alert from last month was initially reported to be due to an employee mistakenly choosing the wrong option from a drop-down menu, though that employee has since told media that he thought the threat was real. Last year, the CRTC ordered wireless service providers to have the capability to implement an alert system running on LTE by April 6, 2018. In his opening statement in front of the national security and defence committee Tuesday afternoon, Shortliffe said that doesn’t mean Canadians can expect to start receiving emergency alerts by this April, and that the start date still hasn’t been determined. He noted, according to a copy of his remarks, that the CRTC is still “inquiring into a few elements” following reports it received from its Interconnection Steering Committee, and once it’s satisfied, will start requiring carriers to distribute the messages. “My understanding from wireless providers is that they will all be ready to go from April 6,” he noted during the question and answer session. The committee appearance also touched on how many Canadians will actually be able to receive the messages. Shortliffe said that compliance by carriers will be mandatory, though areas in the north that use mobile satellite technology will be exempt because they can’t make use of geo-locating the same way as regular mobile phones. In his opening statements, he noted that by April, half of the mobile devices “sold by Canadian telecommunications service providers should be capable of receiving alerts. By April 2019, all devices sold by providers should be alert-capable.” He added that service providers will need to make customers with non-LTE compatible mobile devices aware they will be unable to receive the emergency alerts. Paul Temple, senior vice-president of strategic and regulatory affairs at Pelmorex, said that the company is working on a media campaign to educate Canadians about the new system, which will be focused on digital media and mobile ads and will be directed at millennials. He added he hopes the system to be launched by then. “We really hope that it’s April 6, because as I mentioned we’re developing a media campaign now, and we need to know how to set it up. We’d like to be able to say ‘starting April 6’,” he said. Temple also noted that the company has no role in reviewing the content of the messages. “We don’t really have the capability of determining whether an alert was appropriate or misguided or inaccurate. It’s really the issuing authorities’ responsibility,” he said. — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Start date for wireless emergency alert system still not set: CRTC

News | February 5, 2018

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Start date for wireless emergency alert system still not set: CRTC

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