Civil Emergency Alert Services Association is a not-for-profit public safety initiative based in Europe with authorized chapters worldwide. It develops internationally required trust protocols, standards, regulations, and governance for the deployment of the proposed Cell Broadcast public warning system known as Cell@lertsm. CEASa sets stringent criteria for authentication of the message, authorization of the sender, and selection of receivers of emergency messages.
The membership of CEASa, which includes individual members, trade group members and sponsors, consists of those parties who wish to see mobile devices used for the purpose of public warning, and those who will be part of the technology chain who will make it possible. There is a growing number of nation states with their own CEASA branches, setting the best practices for each sovereign state, in conjunction with governmental institutes and network operators. All parties are welcome to join.
CEASa is a citizens action initiative. Originally formed in
the US, the international branch creates a harmonized international channel-coding
scheme, which enables international and cross-border use of Cell Broadcast in a
multilingual environment. It also coordinates the allocation of channels for
international purposes such as maritime alerts. There are active initiatives
taking place in the US, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and
Germany. Groups are also operating successful cell broadcast initiatives in Holland, South Korea, and Finland.
Networks such as mobile phone companies provide the
infrastructure over which messages flow to citizens at risk. These networks will
require assurance that only genuine bona fide sources will have access to their
customers and that security systems provided by cell broadcast coordinating
companies such as CellCast Communications will prevent unauthorized access such as spamming.
User groups such as governmental agencies and citizens
groups will want to make sure that any messages are pertinent, proportional and
authorized. Accordingly a system of Trust Protocols sets out the Memoranda of
Understanding between them.
CellCast Communications is an example of an operating company which will administer the Cell Broadcast Broker the intellectual property of Envision IT), which authenticates users and provides the user-friendly maps and GUI which authorized officials use to input messages.
In addition to licensing all required and advantageous related technology Cellcast Communications also purchases or arranges for the purchase of access to the networks.