RCB alerts are SMS messages sent to citizens in the event of various types of threats. The government uses them in situations that may threaten the health and life of Poles, e.g. in extraordinary weather conditions. In 2020, RCB sent an SMS to the inhabitants of all of Poland informing that the elderly, pregnant women and people with disabilities can vote in elections without waiting in line. Many regarded it as agitation at the time. However, SMS warnings are to be a thing of the past, because the government considered this form ineffective.
The government is giving up SMS alerts. But the notifications will still come
In the draft law on civil protection and the state of natural disaster, it was recognized that the Government Center for Security does not properly fulfill its mission. The authors of the project also propose several solutions to this problem, and the most important one assumes the complete liquidation of this unit. Along with it, the popular text messages about threats, as an ineffective method of notifying citizens about threats, are also to disappear. It’s because of technological problems. Simultaneous sending of text messages to millions of citizens puts a heavy load on the network and can take up to two hours to send a message to each interested party.
In the case of sudden threats covering, for example, several voivodeships, such delays are unacceptable, which is why the legislator is planning changes. And that is the use of technology cell broadcast, which allows you to send short messages displayed on the screens of mobile phones and smartphones. In this way, the message will be able to be transmitted by the base stations to anyone within the range of the network in just a few seconds. What’s more, the message will appear even on phones that are too weak to receive an SMS. Such a system is already successfully operating in the USA and several European countries.
On the occasion of the liquidation of RCB alerts, responsibility for threat messages would also be transferred from the Government Security Center subordinated to the Prime Minister to other entities. According to the draft act, the content of the message is to be decided by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration together with the Ministry of National Defenceand the Ministry of Digitization will be responsible for the distribution of messages. In turn, the direct burden of delivering alerts to citizens will fall on mobile operators. The legislator also provides for penalties (up to 1% of turnover) in the event that any of the telecoms fails to comply with this obligation.
Source: Gazeta
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