Comment by valuearb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by valuearb | Hacker News Reader

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LOL using the Manchester bombing as reason. First terrorist incidents are so rare you might as well argue that you need your phone in case of a plane crash.

Secondly, these events have security, crowd control, management, etc, all with their own phones. Emergency services doesn't need a thousand simultaneous calls. In a genuine mass emergency there is a lot more important needs for network access than providing people the opportunity Instagram/Facebook about their experience.

If friends and family have to wait a little while longer to hear from you in an extremely rare emergency, that's a small price to pay for the large benefit. You can't fully experience a concert or show when you are distracted by your or someone else phones.

This technology makes the "no phones" policy work. I don't have to be made to feel like an a-hole calling for an usher to deal with phone users, or worry about them or their friends harassing or assaulting me for doing it. It makes the experience better for everyone.

A few weeks ago Joe Rogan spoke about how he's now using Yondr at all of his shows, because despite how expensive it is for him, it has significantly improved the show dynamics for his entire audience.

The Manchester and Bataclan incidents are perfect examples. That's the whole point of terrorism. The groups are not effective enough to influence who they want without fear tacits. They're going to target large groups of people, and events tend to do that.

The situation of the Bataclan, the emergency services does need to know whats going on inside, and at multiple points of the building. For Manchester, they needed to know what exit was being targeted, and which other ones that popped up as well (there could have been more than one attacker)

I emphitise and understand where you're at with the usher part, it sucks and they're going to try to guilt trip you over it. However, that's the right process to go through. (You're esclating). MLB solves this issue by putting a short code to text about bad behavior on the backs of seats. (Again you have to use your phone with this)

I think the point is those types of incidents are incredibly rare.

Some might say as engineers we should know to design for the edge cases.

That's what the people at the bataclan said.

Good thing they didn't say "impossible."

I'm more likely to get killed by a fall in the tub than by a terrorist, yet I don't fear going into the shower without my phone. Fearing terrorism is a consequence of innumeracy. Do you carry your cellphone in case you or a nearby person get struck by lightning too? More US citizens get struck (and killed) by lightning every year than die in terrorist attacks since 2001.

Actually, yes, that’s exactly why I carry my phone: for contacting emergency services when something goes awry. Your lightning analogy sort of falls down a bit here (even though I agree with your overall point of not fearing terrorist attacks)

The fact that the risk is comparatively low is no excuse to disregard it. Furthermore, any number of emergencies can be exacerbated by a lack of phone access - medical emergencies, fires, or any other major problem might have significantly higher fatality rates in the absence of telecommunications.

First, let me say that I'm not panicking about the probability of this actually happening, but: "I'm more likely to get killed by a fall in the tub than by a terrorist" is only true of an _arbitrary_ attack at an _arbitrary_ venue and time (and an _arbitrary_ bathtub :)). Events that use Yondr announce it ahead of time, waving a big flag that says "no one here will be able to call for help." The probability of an attack at such an event would be much higher compared to an arbitrary one (although, definitely still small, which is why I'm not exactly panicking...)

Your entire premise is incorrect. Even with Yondr hundreds of people will be able to call for help. Such as ushers, security, ticket takers, concession workers, event management, etc, etc, etc.

Yondr means less (or at least less rapid) social media publicity for a terrorist act, so one could argue that it deters terrorists.

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