Managed Service Provider Michael Polak Speaks with NCMEC Executive.
Las Vegas Managed Service Provider, Michael Polak, talked with the Executive Director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Callahan Walsh, about Internet safety for minors for a podcast episode.
Intro:
You’re listening to Dumbed Down Tech, where we break down tech concepts, and we go back to the basics.
MP:
Good morning, everybody. We’re here with Callahan Wash from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, also known as NCMEC, to discuss Internet safety for minors and what parents can do for their children to keep them safe. Why don’t you tell us a little bit more about yourself and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
CW:
Hello everybody. I’m Callahan Walsh. My parents co-founded the National Center back in 1984 after my brother Adam Walsh went missing from South Florida in 1981. It’s an organization I always thought I would find myself working in someday. I always had a passion since I was young about the organization. Luckily, I was able to when I was living in Washington, DC, was able to migrate from television over to the National Center. About six years ago. I worked for my father as a producer for America’s Most Wanted. I know many of your listeners are probably familiar with that show, and I made my way over to the National Center about six years ago, working here full time. And now I live back in my home state of Florida. We have a Florida branch office where I’m the executive director here. And simultaneously I host In Pursuit: The Missing, which is a show of missing individuals on Investigation Discovery, and co-host In Pursuit with John Walsh, which is similar to America’s Most Wanted. We profile wanted fugitives, and the public can give us tips that lead to the apprehension or take down a fugitive; or in the case of In Pursuit: The Missing, a reunification. But the National Center is an incredible organization. Nonprofit that my parents co-founded, an organization that’s helped recover over 380,000 missing children since its inception. Organization that runs the Cyber Tip Line, which is a reporting mechanism for child sexual abuse online. Incredible work that’s done there at the Center, whether it’s from finding missing children, reducing child exploitation, and preventing future victimization. That’s our job every day is to come in and to make sure that we find America’s missing children and to prevent future victimization as well. We believe prevention is key, and we want to make sure that children don’t go missing or become exploited in the first place.
MP:
As a Managed Service Provider, I know it’s a huge deal with everything that’s been going on as well, specifically with Internet safety and how that affects children. Now, what kind of safeguards do you think that parents or guardians can help with their children so that they don’t go missing or they don’t get exposed to predators?
CW:
Right. And we really have seen an uptick in reports to the Cyber Tip line during this COVID pandemic…
You can listen to the rest of this episode here, or here on Apple Podcasts, as well as listen to my thoughts as a Managed Service Provider about tech news topics.