Early in the primaries, in an act now buried among all the other outlandish things he’s done, Donald Trump gave out Lindsay Graham’s cell phone number to the entire crowd. So it’s not really great news that, upon taking office, Donald Trump can text literally everyone in America and there is nothing we can do, whatsoever, to stop him.
As pointed out by New York’s Select/All blog, back in 2006 Congress passed the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act, or WARN Act, which allows government authorities to send an unblockable text message to any phone in contact with a cell phone tower in a geographical location. This is why your phone vibrates with Amber Alerts every so often. And under the law, if it comes from the President, it is unblockable.
The good news is that you likely won’t bolt awake at 3am, wondering who died only to discover the President would like to share his thoughts on CNN with you. The system is controlled by FEMA, which can vet which alerts go out, and it requires two training courses, which usually the President defers to somebody else. On the other hand, Trump reportedly dictates his tweets to staff instead of writing them himself, so it’s not entirely out of the question that a 3am text will show up. Something to look forward to in 2017, we suppose.
(via NY Mag)