WHOSE BANDWIDTH IS IT, ANYWAY? Suit seeks to block Trump from sending ‘presidential alerts’ to phones.

Three New Yorkers are suing in federal court to try to halt a test scheduled for Wednesday of a system that allows President Donald Trump or any future president to send alert messages to the cellphones of all Americans.

The activists filed the suit last week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, arguing that the system violates their free speech rights and constitutes an unconstitutional seizure of their electronic devices.

The first-ever national test of the “presidential alert” system for mobile phones and similar devices was originally planned for Sept. 20, but it was delayed due to the onslaught from Hurricane Florence.

Wireless phone users have the ability to opt out of most alerts sent under the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. While some users can choose not to receive regional messages and so-called Amber Alerts regarding missing or endangered children, under federal rules, receipt of the top-level “presidential alerts“ is mandatory.

To be clear, this suit would stop any President from using mandatory alerts, but putting “Trump” in the headline of a political story only tangentially related to Trump is clickbait, like putting “Apple” in the headline of a tech story only tangentially related to Apple.