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Posted in: Games, Mobile Games, Niantic, Pokémon GO | Tagged: pokemon
Niantic Exec Comments On Governments Buying Pokémon GO Data
A recent comment from a Niantic executive over Pokémon GO data possibly being purchased by governments doesn't really leave us at ease
Article Summary
- Niantic exec hints at governments buying Pokémon GO data, sparking privacy concerns.
- Data collected by players could be used by military, without explicit consent.
- McClendon acknowledges potential misuse of data for military purposes.
- Privacy worries arise, but unlikely to deter Pokémon GO's massive player base.
In what feels like the latest edition of "Technology is Not Your Friend" news, a Niantic executive gave commentary to governments and militaries buying data from Pokémon GO. Word of this broke through 404 Media, who caught wind of a presentation given by Brian McClendon, Niantic's Senior Vice President of Engineering. McClendon was also formerly a part of Google, where he was the co-creator of Google Earth, Street View, and Google Maps. The presentation, "Coordinates of tomorrow: Why spatial computing needs a new map," happened at Bellingfest earlier this month and was captured on video for you to watch.
During the Q&A portion, a comment came from Bellingcat's open source analyst (and former British Army officer) Nick Waters, saying that LGMs (Large Geospatial Model) would be "unbelievably useful" to the military and asked if it was foreseeable for governments and militaries to purchase the information from Niantic. To which he replied, "I could definitely see it," McClendon said. "I think the question is, would there be anything that they would do with it that would be outside of what a consumer or a Bellingcat [would] want to do with it? If the use case is identical then that seems completely fine. If the use case is specific in [the] military and adding amplitude to war, then that's obviously an issue."
If that doesn't creep you out just a little bit, you might wanna take a second pass at it. What they're basically suggesting is that all of the individual data collected by you, the player, and about you, to a degree, could be sold to practically any government agency. Since the bulk of the data is collected by players when they use the game in multiple aspects, essentially mapping out areas in real-time for use in the game, they would be using your personal data and experience to help them out in a military aspect without asking you permission. Possibly gaining it even if you don't live in the country that purchases is. Thankfully, McClendon did point out at the end that if they were looking to use it to advance war, there would be issues. But he also didn't come right out and say "no" to the idea either.
Is it going to stop people from playing Pokémon GO? Probably not. But it will make you think twice about using some of their features.
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