Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of N

The Manhunt Message

On the Media | Sep 23, 2016

Last Monday, New York City authorities sent a push alert out to millions of cell phones in New York City warning them about a suspect: 

Push alert sent out on 9-19-2016 after a bombing in New York and New Jerseua
(N/A)

There was no photo, no link, no information about who Rahami was or what he looked like or why he was wanted. Immediately, the alert was criticized for deputizing an entire city to look out for foreign-looking young men. But it literally couldn't include any more information due to the limitations of the system. 

The FCC has recommended changes to the Wireless Emergency Alert system (360 characters, multimedia, links) that would help avoid confusion such as in Monday's message, but wireless carriers have pushed back. Mark Harris, who wrote about WEAs for Motherboard last month, talks to Bob about why the industry doesn't want to invest in emergency services and whether we should be wary of the technology anyway. 

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