p2pnet - rss feed: MySpace Amber alerts
p2pnet.net News:- MySpace.com is to distribute Amber alerts telling users about children who’ve gone missing.
It’s, “teaming with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to distribute the alerts, which are triggered by law-enforcement officials,” says Newsday.
The alerts, slated to start today, will go to all users in ZIP code areas where there were issued, says the story, going on, “They will appear in a small text box at the top of a user’s portfolio. The user can click on the box for more information, including a photo of the missing child and a description of the suspect.”
As part of MySpace child protection efforts, people signing up will be asked for a working email address and to verify their identity by responding to an email sent to the listed address.
It’s also developing software to let parents, “learn of their child’s use of MySpace and be notified of usernames, ages and locations they use in their personal profile pages,” says Newsday.
Owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, MySpace.com has become alarmingly popular with sexual predators looking for victims and is now promoting an application to stop users under 18 from being contacted by adults, and vice versa. But as the story points out, it’s optional and relies on self-reported ages.
Meanwhile, Amber alerts are in memory of Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old girl killed in Arlington, Texas, 11 years ago.
The first came on January 13 this year.
“In response to Amber’s abduction, the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Radio Managers teamed up with local law-enforcement in 1997 to implement the first local AMBER Plan,” says a post on the Oregon State Police site, going on
“Since that time, the program has grown into a seamless network of over 100 AMBER Plans across the country, and has even reached into Canada and parts of England.”
It’s so far credited for the safe return of 241 children nationwide.
Also See:
Newsday - AMySpace to Distribute Amber Alerts, January 22, 2007
contacted by adults - MySpace in sex assault case, January 19, 2007
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