March 3, 2015

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Waze map app to get Amber Alerts on child abductions

The Waze navigation app is getting Amber Alerts on child abductions.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is sending the alerts. They will pop up in the Waze app and be targeted to the driver's location. To guard against distracted driving, the alerts will appear only when the driver has stopped for at least 10 seconds.

Many cellphones already get Amber Alerts as text-like messages, but some users have turned those off. Google Inc., which owns Waze, already displays Amber Alerts with its Google Maps app and search services. The missing-children center also distributes alerts through services including Facebook.

The missing-children center says it would rather have people get duplicate alerts than none. The program has been credited with rescuing more than 700 abducted children in the U.S.

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