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Facebook will display missing child alerts in UK News Feeds
Facebook's enormous userbase makes it a powerful tool for distributing public service announcements. To maximise this potential, the company is introducing "Child Rescue Alerts" in the UK today, which will appear in your News Feed with crucial information about a recently missing person. Instead of a blanket broadcast, however, Facebook will usually filter these alerts so they're only visible to people nearby. The idea being that if you're within a designated search area, there's a better chance you'll have seen the missing person, or be able to keep a look out for anyone matching their description. Of course, you can also share these alerts to everyone in your network, increasing their reach.
Waze now alerts you to nearby child abductions
Waze is mostly meant to help you avoid traffic snarls and speed traps, but it's now performing a valuable public service. Effective immediately, the navigation app will notify you about AMBER Alerts for abducted children wherever you're driving. Stop for at least 10 seconds and you'll get details for both the victims and any vehicles they might be traveling in. It's a simple upgrade, but it could make all the difference if you spot a child or captor in time for police to stage a rescue. [Top image credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images]
Facebook will alert you when kids go missing in your area
Facebook will now show amber alerts in its news feeds to inform users about missing or abducted children. The social network launched the venture with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to deliver the information in specific, targeted search areas following an abduction. The alerts will appear on mobile devices and desktops with photos and other pertinent details, allowing you to share them with friends or link to the latest info. Facebook said it was inspired to add the alerts after missing children were recovered due to information posted independently by users. For instance, earlier this year a motel owner recognized an 11-year-old girl from such a post and helped police recover her unharmed.
FBI's Child ID app helps iPhone users find their missing children
The FBI has just released its very first mobile app, aimed at helping parents deal with their worst nightmare -- a missing child. Known as Child ID, the application allows users to store their kid's photos and identifying information directly on their handsets, making it easier to provide authorities with vital data whenever the little one disappears. Parents can also use the tool to dial 911 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children with the tap of a button, and can instantly e-mail their child's details to law enforcement officials, thanks to a dedicated tab. Of course, some may feel uncomfortable with keeping such personal information stored on a smartphone, but the Bureau insists that none of the data will be collected or shared without authorization -- and they're pretty good at keeping secrets. For now, Child ID is available only for iPhone, though the FBI plans to expand it to other mobile devices in the near future. Interested iOS users can download it for themselves, at the iTunes link below.
FBI releases its first iPhone app: Child ID
The FBI has released it first iPhone app called Child ID. As the name suggests, Child ID works as a kind of digital passport for information about your children. With it you can store their photos along with physical identifiers such as height and weight. The app has several intended uses, the first a which is as something you can quickly show a security official to help identify your child if they go missing, say at an airport or a theme park. The app also has allows you to call 911 with the tap of a button and also call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. You can also choose to email your child's information to authorities. For those of you worried over privacy concerns, the FBI states on its website that the app does not collect or store any photos or information you enter into the phone. Everything resides locally on your iPhone until you choose to send that information to the authorities. Child ID is a great start, but one issue I had with the app is that there is no way to set a passcode on it. If you're storing information that could identify your children, it would be nice to lock the app should it fall into the wrong hands. Child ID is a free download for the iPhone, and the FBI says it will be coming to other mobile devices in the future.
