November 2, 2012

Nancy Gifford

Nancy Gifford is the Project Manager at the Family Online Safety Institute.

One of the goals of A Platform for Good is to highlight the ways technology can be used for social good. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect example of this than a feature recently launched by Google and Google Maps in partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

With this feature, anyone using Google or Google Maps will receive AMBER alerts if they are located near or are searching for a specific location where an AMBER Alert has been issued. If you are unfamiliar with AMBER alerts, they are emergency alerts released when a child is suspected to have been abducted or gone missing. AMBER alerts are used to quickly activate the community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of the child.

Given the popularity of Google’s tools, this new feature could significantly increase the distribution network for AMBER alerts. The first hours are critical when a child goes missing and the importance of an immediate and wide distribution of an AMBER Alert cannot be overstated!

You can find more details about this initiative here.

Image courtesty of eWEEK.

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