April 8, 2011

The US looks to Twitter and Facebook to issue terror alerts

by Shalu Pillai

As we’ve seen in recent times, Twitter and Facebook is clearly the new face of revolution and the new voice of the people, and now the US government is turning to these social networks to reach out. The government has proposed a new warning system to replace their oft criticized five-color coded terror index, according to the Associated Press. A 19-page document, marked “for official use only”, describes the step-by-step behind-the-scene process, when the government believes terrorists might be threatening Americans. Further, it describes sequence of notifying the members of Congress, counterterrorism officials in states and cities, governors and mayors and, the public.

The new system, replacing the five color-coded levels, is expected to be in place by April 27. While it is designed to be easier to understand and more specific, we’re not too sure on how often the public will receive warnings.
[Textually] And [Yahoo]