U.S. Senate: READI Act 2019 re-introducted

[mike at mtcc.com (Michael Thomas)]

On 10/25/19 11:21 AM, Sean Donelan wrote:
> On Thu, 24 Oct 2019, Michael Thomas wrote:
>> Content provider is pretty ill defined -- everything is "content". 
>> But I'm not sure why it should reside in smart assistants either. 
>> What if I don't want or use any of them? They're awfully invasive. 
>> And it doesn't seem that you need them for amber alerts, and the new 
>> earthquake alerts here in california. What would be good imo is to 
>> define how alerts are sourced and distributed and put requirements on 
>> what devices need to implement it, but leave the actual UI a design 
>> decision. That's a pretty well tested route in the past cf, ietf and 
>> other standards bodies that don't touch UI with a ten foot pole.
>
> I think I've been down this road before.
>
> The international alert standards already exist. 
> google.org/publicalerts aggregates alerts from dozens of countries 
> around the world.
>
> If you prefer, call it the mediation layer, i.e. the smart device's 
> operating system.  You really don't want each App on a device doing 
> its thing.  That was tried by the cellular industry in the early 
> 2000s. The results weren't pretty.
>
> On smartphones, the iOS or Android operating system mediates the 
> emergency alerts for all the Apps running on the device.  Whether you 
> are using Netflix, or Hulu, or Audible, or Spotify, or some other 
> random App; the user interface for alerts is handled by the mediation 
> layer.
>
> That way users's don't experience different emergency alert user 
> interfaces for each App.  If the user turns off Amber alerts at the 
> device mediation layer (smart device operating system), its turned off 
> for all the Apps.
>
> Yes, its possible to download specialized Apps on your iOS or Android 
> device to get extra alert information.  There are a bunch of weather 
> Apps which add weather radar and other stuff.  But those Apps aren't 
> really reliable for imminent emergency alerts, just read the App's 
> Terms of Service :-)
>
>
> So... The READI act, for example your Samsung TV mediation layer is 
> called Bixby. Whether you are watching Hulu, or Netflix, or 
> over-the-air TV station, Bixby would act as the mediation layer for 
> emergency alerts on that Samsung TV no matter which App you are using.
>
> Likewise, your smart speaker operating system (Amazon, Google, Apple, 
> etc) would act as the mediation layer for all emergency alerts, no 
> matter which smart app you were using, i.e. spotify, amazon music, 
> audible books, podcasts, etc.
>
>

Ok, you had me completely puzzled by digital assistant layer. I'm not 
sure apps might not be interested in competing for users: "This 7.0 
earthquake is brought to you by Allstate!"

Mike