- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.org
- technology@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.org
- technology@lemmit.online
Japanese disaster prevention X account can’t post anymore after hitting API limit - The issue has arisen after major Tsunami warnings have been issued in areas of Japan following a strong earthquake::undefined
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Governments should not depend on social media for vital communications, period.
So the Governments are going to start coming after corpoprations right?
Love it when corporations have more power than government entities.
The dystopian future is coming faster than ever
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That crazy dystopian future where the government has to abide by the terms and conditions of private corporations. So wild. 🙄
Holy shit, didn’t know there is an actual Nerv created by an organisation named Gehirn. I mean, good what they are doing, just hope, that Gehirn doesn’t get around to do the instrumentality project. Otherwise we will get problems with angels
Great work Elon ! Now Twitter’s service has indirectly impacted the life of some people
If only there was some sort of legal agreement that should and could be reached when the govt wants to use some private platform to communicate something important to people. If only.
I can’t even install software on my work computer unless IT and security have vetted it, questioned the company if necessary, and approved it. Government and corporate use of social media platforms should be no different. I bet the lack of privacy most of these platforms have wound be against the security policy of any company with a competent IT and/or compliance team. Imagine what social media would be like if all the corporate clients were just like “nope, not happening”, hell, we might even have slightly more responsible social media platforms.
Have multiple accounts and rotate through them with each post. But then you have to make sure all of your followers are following all accounts. It’s a shitty workaround but it’s a shitty platform to begin with.
One likely reason they’re still on X is so those that didn’t get the memo to use their app or otherwise can’t still can still get alerts. Switching to multiple accounts would require people who likely wouldn’t notice to follow the others, and those that would do that would hopefully have downloaded the app. And yes, if a person isn’t noticing they need to get the app they likely won’t notice a critical alert, but when you’re dealing with people’s lives everything counts.
Right, because it’s not on the platform to remain how it was. It’s now the users’ responsibility to completely change how they interact with the service so they can have the same functionality.
At that point, I think it would be more reasonable to move people to a more resilient network, like someone else recommended, Mastodon would be good for this.
And that’s not to blindly shill for Mastodon. It genuinely happens to do this one thing particularly well.
Why governments would ever use a private service for critical use baffles me.
Create your own emergency notification system!
Remember when just about every government employee was carrying around a BlackBerry device for official business?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
I remember when they all loved the Nextel PTT phones.
That’s different. They had signed contacts and were legally obligated to provide service. Twitter is a free service that can be turned off at any time, with no notice, and is run by a schizophrenic twat with a god complex. It’s just monumentally stupid to put lives on the line through a service like that.
NERV isnt owned by gov and:
Luckily, the creators of the NERV App, Gehirn Inc, have created an app-based alternative for users to get information in real-time, as well as running a Mastodon account.
They have one, but you also want information to be where people are. Especially if where people are is full of misinformation and rumours.
Japan has various earthquake notification systems. Tweets are just one more way to get the information to the people on a platform they use.
It makes a lot of sense to post where the people are. Roll your own and note the people need your app/etc. granted, everyone is reading X on their smartphone and I’m 100% positive that Japan has the same kind of emergency broadcast system that we have in North America, but again that’s not meant for lots of messages, where a social networking site is.
Because it’s often easier, cheaper, and more efficient in cases that mirror public needs. Alerting, SMS, cloud storage, all are solved and competitively priced. And don’t get me wrong, there ARE use cases for doing certain things custom or internally. There will need to be a mix of things.
The issue, is having an appropriate SLA and having the ability to hold companies accountable when it’s not met. You need stated provisions that won’t happen. Most commercial enterprises already operate under this model successfully, however many of the tools don’t have SLAs around an earth quake. Most companies are willing to provide those provisions but it totally will come with extra cost which is typically not budgeted or sales teams or contracting officers are not equipped to have these conversations.
Hate to say it but I would commonly get alerts from Twitter in the before times about local issues before I would get notified by my local government. Sadly they switched to encrypted radios so I can’t even keep up that way either these days
Cell phones already have the emergency alert system they could just use that.
One thing I wish iOS/Android did was have the option for these emergency alerts to be multilingual, or provide some sort of auto translation. When i was in Japan in November, I received an emergency alert due to NK launching some missiles. It’s pretty scary to have your phone blow up with a loud alarm, and not being able to read the alert because it’s in Japanese. On iOS, you also can’t just copy the notification to translate it. I had to take a picture, and then have Google Translate translate it.
I was anticipating some big earthquake, but turned out to be a child playing with his rockets.
I’m able to take a screenshot and translate this comment in the photos app in iOS.
Edit: I have no idea how good the translation is, but I’ve done it this way for things that needed translation.
You’re right, but that was my point, you have to take a screenshot and translate it. It wasn’t something I thought about when my phone was blasting out a loud alarm.
In those kind of emergencies, either it should’ve been auto translated to the users’ default language, or a quick translate option should be available.
Create your own emergency notification system!
Those never turn out well.
Running their own mastodon instance should be viable though.
The Los Angeles/ California earthquake alert system worked just fine today.
Does that go through regular EAS? Wondering.
FWIW, Japan does have emergency alerts on iOS and Android, same thing as the Netherlands and the UK.
Just mass send SMSs in a given area
It’s a secondary feature of a mysterious enterprise, unknown to americans, called “public media”
Is Mastodon even viable for time sensitive information? You need to wait for your instance to propagate the post from their instance which can take time.
As opposed to waiting until next month for your API call limit to reset?
I’d suggest they join a system that has users, proper SLA and an open frontpage.
As much as you might like Mastodon for being open, there are no SLA between instances. Bluesky or Threads likely do.
Not saying they shouldn’t start their own Mastodon, but not for emergency and time sensitive things. Or just for people who can’t access those other services. More options also mean more reach.
They made their own: https://unnerv.jp/@UN_NERV
Is Twitter/X viable for that? They can decide, and have, to randomly put information behind login walls.
They technically still have an SLA, but it’s unclear how much they respect it. And if X isn’t viable there are other platforms that are.
SLA? If that means something like “service level agreement” (I don’t know, you didn’t specify, I’m guessing) then I can still find examples where it falls well below what I would expect from a public service such that if there was an agreement in place that I would definitely be opposed to it as a tax payer.
And if X isn’t viable there are other platforms that are.
I mean yes obviously, there are much more viable platforms like Mastodon, or even a self-hosted website.
And again, which was the point of my original comment, Mastodon may not do great when you need to propagate the post to other platforms. Unless you know something I don’t, Mastodon is horrible for time sensitive information, since it can take hours to get to your instance.
I remember seeing that they did have a fediverse account? This seems related to that
Yup see here:
It’s also in the article linked above:
Luckily, the creators of the NERV App, Gehirn Inc, have created an app-based alternative for users to get information in real-time, as well as running a Mastodon account.
This same issue happened during wildfire season in BC, Canada if I recall. A small polite media outrage over it, then forgotten.
Best case scenario would be an independent, international system developed within and for the emergency services community worldwide. Judging by the way firefighters travel internationally to fight forest fires worldwide, the community could be strong enough to support a solution like that, in my opinion.
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For reference, the article I’m referring to:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/twitter-policy-change-hampers-drivebc-1.6894793
“Social media’s reliability in emergencies questioned after Twitter limit blocks DriveBC posts” (Jul 12).
Whether a provincial traffic account posting emergency info counts as news links for these large companies or not, it’s a pretty ugly look for them to have been blocking emergency information, and it doesn’t look any better now 6 months later.
The whole thing is pretty typical (Canadian) government “not enough, and too late” -style regulation regardless, but these social media sites could think twice about playing the villain so readily in response.
I remember reading that Twitter was pretty famous on Japan so that’s why they are still there.
Letting people senselessly get injured or die seems to be a common theme in Elon’s ventures, so I’m not all that surprised about this.
Well, they are no fascists so they can not expect preferential treatment from Elon.
well the Japanese Liberal Party has exclusively ruled Japan since WWII, and it might as well be considered a one party authoritarian state with a facade of democratic legitimacy. But yes, not strictly speaking fascist.
Don’t forget the center left social libs snuck a PM in there for like an entire 2 years, just in time to preside over a giant natural disaster and get ousted again
The Evangelion app name is pure gold.
Fuck X and Musk.
What Evangelion app?
The tsunami warning app is named NERV as the devs are big fans of Evangelion.
Aaaaah ok
NERV is the name of the major organization in Evangelion. Gehirn Inc, the creator of this app, is the name of the predecessor to NERV in NGE. The font and red design are also the same.
Edit: Seems like the creator is a huge NGE fan and just went with it.
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Netblocks reports the internet is down in that part of Japan, so…,
GTFO Shitter.
Countries should have their own Mastodon instances. Then again, you can’t trust governments.
You can trust them within a framework of expectations. Bureaucrats gonna bureaucrat, and it’s not a monolith. The level of mistrust should rise steeply with the level of money that can be made by being in a given governmental position. Do I trust rando post office employee? Sure, they’re just some schmuck with a job. Do I trust a congresscritter? Oh hell no.
