Lulu's Law Mandates FCC Add Shark Attack Warnings to Wireless Emergency Alerts Within 180 Days

Lulu's Law directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to update the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system—the same system that sends out AMBER alerts and severe weather warnings—to include alerts for shark attacks. The FCC has 180 days from the law's enactment to issue the necessary order to make this happen. The core idea is to use the existing emergency alert infrastructure to quickly warn people near coastal areas about potential shark-related dangers.

Shark Alerts Hitting Your Phone?

So, what does this actually mean? Essentially, the FCC needs to figure out the rules for how and when a 'shark attack' alert gets pushed to phones in a specific area. This involves integrating this new alert category into the technical framework already used for other emergencies. Think about getting a buzz on your phone with a warning if there's confirmed shark activity reported near the beach you were planning to visit. The law itself is straightforward on the requirement and the deadline (180 days) but leaves the specifics of how this gets implemented up to the FCC.

Balancing Safety Buzz with Alert Fatigue

The goal here is clearly public safety – giving people a heads-up could prevent injuries or worse. If you live near the coast or vacation there, getting timely information about a confirmed threat could genuinely help you make safer choices. However, there's a potential flip side: alert fatigue. We already get alerts for weather, missing persons, and presidential messages. Adding another category raises the question of whether people might start tuning them out, potentially ignoring a truly critical warning down the line. The bill doesn't define what exactly triggers an alert – is it a confirmed attack, a credible sighting, or something else? Without clear, consistent criteria (which the FCC will need to establish), there's a risk of alerts being used too often or inconsistently across different coastal areas, potentially diminishing their effectiveness.