CREDO rejects Trump’s dystopian effort to text every American

We have recently learned that the Trump administration plans to force a “Presidential Alert” to nearly every cell phone in America as part of the new FEMA emergency alert system, which is in addition to alerts for “Imminent Threats to Life and Property” and “AMBER Alerts.”

Though this “Presidential Alert” category of emergency message precedes Trump, it is especially unsettling and disturbing at a moment when a clearly unstable authoritarian is in control of the White House. I personally don’t want any member of this administration, especially not Trump, communicating with me through my phone, and I know you don’t want Trump communicating with you, either.

Here at CREDO, we are 100% against the idea of this administration having direct access to our CREDO Mobile members in this way. If there is any way to abuse this system, we know Trump and his corrupt associates will find it.

Here’s what we know: according to FEMA, all major mobile carriers are participating in this new Wireless Emergency Alerts program. Since CREDO Mobile service is provided through these major carriers, we are unable to prevent the emergency message test. We have asked our carrier partners for the ability to control this functionality and will continue to escalate our requests.

Currently, members can opt out of all message types with the exception of the presidential alerts. We understand there will be an initial test of the presidential alert system on October 3, 2018 at 2:18 pm EDT and 2:20 pm EDT. The FEMA site confirms the details as we understand them today.

What can you do? Join us in protesting by turning off your phone for approximately 30 minutes from the alert start time.

Presidential Alert message tests are currently scheduled for:
October 3, 2018 at 2:18 pm EDT and 2:20 pm EDT and will broadcast for ~30 minutes.

This administration has been overt about its racism, xenophobia, misogyny and corruption and I know that for many of us this message and test is unwanted, intrusive and potentially triggering.

Please know that we stand with you and your progressive values at CREDO and we are fighting the authoritarian practices of this administration in everything we do. If we have further updates, you’ll be able to find them here on our blog. And in the meantime, please know that we are doing everything we can to extract our members from this test.

What can you do? Join us in protesting by turning off your phone during the alert and by sharing this message with your friends.