Is the founder of Pokémon Go a CIA agent?

This status post would like to make Facebook users believe that Pokémon Go is a sneaky, manipulative trap.

The status post as wording: (sic!)

STOP PLAYING POKEMON GO IT'S A TRAP!!! The founder of the app is a CIA agent. They collect your information and they know exactly where you are. Here in Turkey most Pokemons were moved to the mosques? weird, is not it ? You can move the Pokemons so that a larger mass of people gathers at the point and a suicide bomber has it very easy!!!!! There have already been a few deaths because of the app because some people argued over a Pokemon... believe me, that's not a good thing

Is that correct?

The first exclamation, written in Caps Lock, has no argumentative content whatsoever, but things get adventurous in the following sentence:

“The founder of the app is a CIA agent.”

Pokémon Go was developed by the US company Niantic. The founder's name is John Hanke, and he doesn't work for a secret service so much as he is a former Google employee

“Pokémon Go “collects your information and they know exactly where you are.”

Yes, exactly, when GPS and WiFi are turned on. Numerous other apps do this too, and you have expressly agreed to the permissions if you have installed the game on your smartphone. This practice is particularly incompatible with German law, as the magazine c't already made clear.

Nevertheless, panic is greatly exaggerated - Google also lacks similar data protection regulations and therefore no certainty as to how the data you disclose through Google Maps navigation, Google Drive use and mere Google research will be used.

The next point of the Facebook post claims that Pokémon have been moved to mosques in Turkey.

“Here in Turkey, most Pokemons have been moved to mosques”

To do this, you have to be familiar with the principle of when which Pokémon appear where. The places where Pokémon appear, arenas or so-called Pokéstops can be found are based on data sets from the augmented reality game “Ingress”.

Millions of users of this game have more or less actively participated in where Pokémon appear.

So Pokémon can be found in mosques, not because Niantic “moved” them there, but because players suggested these locations as “portals” for Ingress.

By the way, in order to catch the Pokémon you don't have to enter the mosque, for example.

The next few sentences of the article claim that this makes it easy for a suicide bomber to locate targeted crowds.

“You can move the Pokemon so that a larger mass of people gathers at the point and a suicide bomber has an easy time of it.”

Yes, that's true in principle, in theory. In practice, frequently visited places and parks have the same (minimal!) probability. It is much more likely to be struck by lightning, at least if you live in a safe country like Germany or another European country.

The deaths caused by Pokémon Go mentioned in the last section do not refer to terrorist attacks, as the article incorrectly implies, but to the carelessness of various users of the app while catching Pokémon.

And that is “really not a good thing” when people, instead of paying attention to traffic, stare intently at the screen of their smartphone and completely ignore their surroundings.

“There have already been a few deaths because of the app because some people fought over a Pokemon”

This decision is a real danger, but can be influenced if handled responsibly.

Conclusion:

The post is based on mere, arbitrary allegations. We cannot say whether this post was spread out of ignorance or consciously!

The data protection regulations of Pokémon Go have already received massive criticism in the past, but the lack of guidelines for protecting privacy are also missing in many other apps and are not an indicator that Pokémon Go is spying on its users in order to play a role in suicide bombers in any way.

Author: Lena F., mimikama.org