Posted by Stefanie Zucker on August 8, 2011 · 4 Comments
According to the FBI “A child goes missing every 40 seconds in America… many do not return home.”
Not long ago one of our editors shared a story about her experience with Code Adam – the phrase used to initiate a “lockdown” if your child goes missing in a store. But what if they’re not immediately found? The new app – “FBI Child ID” can help.
The FBI Child ID App provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can show the pictures and provide physical identifiers such as height and weight to security or police officers on the spot. And, using a special tab on the app, you can also quickly and easily e-mail your child’s information to authorities with a few clicks.”
The App also offers advice for parents on how to keep kids safe, as well as specific guidance on what to do in the “first few crucial hours” after a child goes missing. And for parents concerned with privacy the FBI offered the following:
Note: the FBI (and iTunes for that matter) is not collecting or storing any photos or information that you enter in the app. All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities. Please read your mobile provider’s terms of service for information about the security of applications stored on your device.
Right now the FBI Child app is only available for the iPhone, and can be downloaded for free here at iTunes, however the FBI plans to expand this tool to other types of smartphones (such as Google Android devices) in the near future.
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Editor’s Notes:
Although the FBI has been very proactive in addressing internet privacy concerns, one area that seems to have been overlooked is local data security. Since the FBI Child ID app is not password protected, if someone steals your phone they would have easy access to all of your child’s data. Additionally, the big red “Call 911” and “Call NCMEC” buttons might seem very tempting to a child playing with the phone. Again, password protection will help with this.
Overall our thoughts are that this is a terrific app that is still very early in its development and we will likely see additional security features (like password protection) in upcoming releases.
Sounds like a wonderful App and my phone is password protected!!! I will be tweeting this Stef!!
xo
Leslie
Thanks Les, I think it’s pretty terrific too!! 🙂
Oh awesome. I’m passing this link on to Ryan! I have a BB but he could use this!
Very very exciting!!