Presidential banner caught emergency alert officials off-guard: emails

Public Safety officials working on Canada’s public alert systems were surprised when some devices in Canada received a presidential banner alert, something that they weren’t aware could be an issue to begin with, emails obtained via an access to information request show. The error was displayed during the testing phase of the country’s public alerting system on May 7, which was also marred by other errors. Instead of the intended “emergency alert” banner, some Canadians received a “presidential alert,” which is intended for the highest level emergencies in the United States. It was Canada’s first foray into wireless public alerting. The system is used in cases including missing children and severe weather, and the first such alert was sent on April 28 about a flash flood in Alberta. “With all the planning and technical work that was put into this, it came as a surprise?” Patrick Tanguy, assistant deputy minister on emergency management in Public Safety, asked in a May 9 email, two days following the Quebec and Ontario tests and on the day the rest of the country would receive the test alert. “I’m worried about this,” he added. “I need to know more about whether Pelmorex or carriers were aware of this and why it was not deemed important enough to be explained in the alert ready website.” In an email to The Wire Report, a Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) spokesperson said the issue only emerged after the tests were conducted, adding “there was always a possibility of an issue with grey market phones.” The spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the investigation into the issue is continuing. While it might appear to be just a cosmetic issue, a Pelmorex Corp. spokesperson told The Wire Report that having the wrong label may cause people who receive it not to take action. The presidential alert appears on phones that are purchased in the United States, either there or on the gray market, where second-hand devices are traded -- often online. People will often turn to the gray market for cheaper handsets, especially in an environment with ever-higher prices for upper-end phones from the likes of Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Sanford Lee, a telecom analyst with Macquarie Capital Markets, said in an email that the entire market is, by his estimation, less than five per cent, but U.S. phones in Canada would constitute an even smaller percentage. “I can see the appeal for lower income individuals and new immigrants to Canada,” he said, adding it could be an option for first phones for kids. But he also said the gray market features devices that don’t come with a manufacturer warranty and “there is always consumer skepticism on the durability of the device without knowing its history.” Otherwise, The Wire Report could not get a full picture of how big the gray market is or how many devices in Canada received and could still receive the presidential alerts. “Those devices which pre-date the design guidance in Canada or were specifically manufactured to US standards will continue to display the different banner message,” the CWTA spokesperson noted. That guidance was published on March 29 this year on the Public Safety website and it outlines how emergency management officials want alerts to be displayed on wireless devices. As such, it requires the wireless alert banner to display “Emergency Alert / Alerte D’Urgence.” On the alert appearance section of its frequently asked questions (FAQ) page, the Alert Ready website says the alerts use an “international standard and the broadcast channel that is often called ‘Presidential Alert’ in the United States.” The CWTA spokesperson said in an email that the FAQ was updated around the time that the issue was discovered after the tests in May began. The United States has three alert levels: users can opt out of imminent threats and Amber alerts, but can’t opt out of presidential alerts, the highest alert level of the three. Because no one in Canada can get out of receiving emergency alerts, the U.S. handsets displayed its equivalent banner. Tanguy’s email was copied to public safety officials, including Stephanie Durand, director general of policy and outreach at the department. “This was news to me yesterday,” Durand said in a May 10 email. “We’ll reach out to ISED and on Presidential banner issue and get more info.” Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The emails also show an attempt to coordinate answers to problems with so many players involved. “For leading the work/investigation to follow, the CRTC will likely need to (and want to) have a leading role in bringing the wireless service providers to the table to resolve the issue to the extent possible (although it is the phone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, Motorola, etc. who are also implicated in this, they are not regulated by the CRTC, so our best linkage to them at the working level is through wireless service providers),” Jeff Boyczuk, policy analyst at Public Safety, said in a May 9 email. The number of players involved in the alert system also seemed to have caused some confusion about who to go to for answers. Scott Shortliffe, chief consumer officer and executive director at the CRTC, said in a May 7 email to his CRTC colleagues that the regulator should “not get into trying to pass on the information we’re getting from Pelmorex and becoming the spokespersons for what happened during the specific tests today,” adding media inquiries should be pushed to them. The wireless service providers either didn’t respond to a request for comment or couldn’t answer when asked whether they knew such an issue could happen. The CWTA website notes that situations where devices don’t get the proper alerts are “fully outside of a service provider’s control.” “It’s unclear at this point if we can override this factory setting to comply with the Canadian public alerting standards,” read one proposed “high level” message to be communicated publicly in an email on May 8 from Gillian Badger, a Public Safety communications advisor. “As it stands, it would not be surprising to see a larger number of alerts with the Presidential banner show up tomorrow in Vancouver, Calgary during BC/AB tests, under the assumption that there would be a greater number distributed to the public,” Boyczuk said in an evening email on May 8, the day before the rollout to the rest of the country. “There would also be a greater number of US tourists/travelers or ex-pats in those cities still using their US-purchased phones. “Short of replacing the phone, the banner will appear,” Boyczuk added. He also said that Public Safety would follow up with DRDC and ISED “on what I suspect will need to be a longer-term solution to be worked out between CAN and US partners and industry regarding the technical standards built into the phones in both countries.” The CWTA clarifies the roles on its website. First the federal, provincial or territorial governments will issue the threat-to-life emergency alert -- at the federal level, that’s often done by Environment and Climate Change Canada, the CWTA notes. They determine what the alert will say and which area will receive it. Pelmorex operates the system that packages the alerts according to technical standards and allows the wireless service providers to then deliver the alert. The WSPs don’t determine the content, timing of the alert, area of distribution or duration. The initial tests in Ontario and Quebec didn’t go as smoothly as the officials had hoped, as some users didn’t get the alerts at all due to a spacing error in a line of code. The issue was viewed as a major problem behind the scenes. “This is going sideways publicly guys so I am thinking out loud,” Tim Trytten, a coordinator at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said in a late afternoon email on May 7. “One option to buy time would be to have the Commission direct/request that the test be rescheduled,” he continued. “That provides everyone with a face-saving out IF Pelmorex cannot guarantee a successful second round. “Second thought would be to have the Commission direct a small area test (probably in Ontario and Alberta) to make sure we don’t get into round 2.” — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Presidential banner caught emergency alert officials off-guard: emails

News | September 6, 2018

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Presidential banner caught emergency alert officials off-guard: emails

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