pokemon

Here’s All The Data Pokemon Go Is Collecting From Your Phone

seaththescaleless:

buzzfeed:

Like most apps that work with the GPS in your smartphone, Pokemon Go can tell a lot of things about you based on your movement as you play: Where you go, when you went there, how you got there, how long you stayed, and who else was there. And, like many developers who build those apps, Niantic keeps that information.

According to the Pokemon Go privacy policy, Niantic may collect — among other things — your email address, IP address, the web page you were using before logging into Pokemon Go, your user name, and your location. And if you use your Google account for sign-in, unless you specifically revoke it, Niantic has access to your entire Google account. That means Niantic has read and write access to your email, Google Drive docs, and more. (It also means that if the Niantic servers are hacked, whoever hacked the servers would potentially have access to your entire Google account. And you can bet the game’s extreme popularity has made it a target for hackers. Given the number of children playing the game, that’s a scary thought.) You can check what kind of access Niantic has to your Google account here.

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My IT expert girlfriend on this:

“The person who wrote this has no understanding of metrics work

Literally every web service to ever exist NEEDS your IP address to function,

email addresses are used to log in,

and they use “previous site tracking” to determine where they’re getting the most traffic from so they can better advertise there

Bullshit clickbait fear shit like this pisses me off so much

because it freaks people out unnecessarily while spreading misinformation for profit

Like they claim they have R/W authority over your email address, but

Google API literally just exists to use one-login functions and doesn’t authorize that sort of use”

TL/DR: Buzzfeed is fear mongering for profit Like usual.

Here’s All The Data Pokemon Go Is Collecting From Your Phone

shuttledick:

puddletumbles:

I woke up this morning and decided that when pokemon go gets some updates and trainer v trainer battles are implemented, I’m going to start my life anew as a team rocket grunt. I’ll get the outfit together and a good team with koffing and ekans- and go out to meetups so I can lose to children everywhere.

I’ll have phrases ready too. “I can’t believe it- a kid BESTED ME?” “Aw boss is gonna let me have it after this!” “You have such a strong bond with your pokemon- is that why you won? Hmph.”

lawful good

shhh my boyfriend downloaded the Pokemon Go workaround onto his phone and we found a Krabby

how do you get them to appear in the ‘real world’? Do you flick that AR switch? Bear in mind we live in an area so middle-of-nowhere the Internet is constantly dodgy

montereybayaquarium:

Recently spotted by staffer and Pokemon trainer Claudia Tibbs in our Kelp Forest exhibit, Krabby is a water-type Pokémon that generally keeps to itself. In the wild, Krabby is frequently found on beaches near the edge of fresh and saltwater. This species is easily identified by its large, red pincers, which it uses for balance and combat.

anakin-skylord:

and this too, pokemon go is helping people with depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, it’s helping people without mental disorders just BE out in nature more, it’s helping people lose weight, be more active, and be around more people, be more social etc. 

And yet old people are still complaining?