2002.08.26 ~06  Amber(?) Alert System on MSN

There seems to be a recent spate of child kidnappings.  Or at least a
recent surge in high-profile kidnappings reported by the news radio station
I listen to on commutes.  One such case involved a girl named Amber,
resulting in a child-abduction system dubbed Amber (or is it AMBER?).  The
basic idea is to that when an abducted child is feared to be in great
danger *and* there is some publicly identifiable property/attribute of the
abductor and abductee, law enforcement gets the word out to the public
(via TV stations, radio stations, freeway signs(!), electronic marquees,
etc.).  Basically applying the Open Source/Free Software principle of
having many many eyes identify and solve problems.

I saw the system in effect one morning commute, on a freeway sign
(dot-matrix LEDs, usually used to indicate serious traffic jams).  While
hearing it on the car radio.  The vehicle description (some kind of white
SUV, iirc), license number, and last known location at the time of
kidnapping that morning were the identifying marks.  The kidnapped children
(two, I think) were recovered later the same day, before dusk (somewhere in
the high deserts?).

Anyway, cool idea.

Currently, I think the alert system is merely county-wide in Los Angeles.
Maybe it's extended state-wide, I'm not sure.  There is momentum to propel
the system nation-wide.  One company is drawing up plans take the alert
system to the net.  Some kind of net.  Just MSN, and I think in conjunction
with Microsoft.  Alerts going out to MSN subscribers only.  Or something.
Instant message and SMS messages.  This is from where my concerns stem.

Now, given Microsoft's recent and not-so-recent track record on security
and virus propagation (IIS, MSOE, MSIE, etc.), in the first year of this
MSN presence I expect no less than two "very serious" security breaches,
almost-double-digit instances of "practical jokes" or "vengeance" alerts
(say some disgruntled black hats getting back at their neighbors), and a
handful of false alerts not attributable to oversensitive law enforcement
agencies.

This isn't a prediction.  Just my own sadistic pessimistic expectations.  I
really do hope such a system won't mess up nor be abused, but I don't hold
any high expectations wherever Microsoft sticks in its hands.