A Google Web Search Help thread has one searcher offering an outstanding idea! Why not place Amber Alerts on the Google home page when possible?
If you do not know what an Amber Alert is, it is a broadcast message shown on highways and other areas where a child was known to have been recently abducted. The message normally contains identifiable information about how to find the child, either by showing the car type the kid was seen in or other characteristics. It is typically only shown in areas that are within reach of where the child was abducted.
Since Google is pretty good at geo-detection, why shouldn't Google use the Amber Alert XML Schema to pull from and then display these alerts to people within a certain distance of the alert and within a certain time frame?
We know that Amber Alerts have helped 532 children return back to their homes. Google is one of the biggest and most seen home pages out there. If Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL and others adopted this, it would likely have nice success.
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
