In conjunction with New York State's ongoing commitment to provide New Yorkers with information they can use to understand the risks and threats they face and know how to respond accordingly, the State Emergency Management Office (SEMO) has created NY Alert. Using this infrastructure, up-to-date information can be communicated effectively and efficiently through various systems (e.g., e-mail, wireless phones, media outlets, and social media including Twitter) to those who sign up for this service. The NY-Alert system features a special text-to-voice option to deliver messages to the visually impaired.
To assure that New Yorkers have the latest information about important consumer protection issues, the CPB was one of the first Agencies to participate in the NY-Alert system. The CPB alerts spotlight product recalls, scams, data breaches and other consumer news. In addition to the key subject of the alert, all CPB messages direct the recipient to the broad array of resources available on the Agency's website, including the online complaint form, and thus serve as an efficient technique for raising awareness, engaging consumers, and providing general educational outreach.
In addition to NY Alert and Twitter, the Agency continued to produce its popular monthly bilingual ConsumerCast podcast focusing on topical consumer issues. These topics included tips for choosing sustainable products to clean your household; information related to census and storm clean-up scams; steps to reduce unwanted marketing messages; holiday safety information; and, back-to-school savings and safety tips. Working with the CPB's technology infrastructure host agency, the Department of Taxation and Finance, the Agency's monthly consumer podcast will be available soon within iTunes and other podcast directories.