Pokémon Go Privacy Concerns Prompt Franken to Ask About Data Collected
Troubled over potential privacy implications with the popular new smartphone game Pokémon Go, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., Tuesday asked game creator Niantic to provide details about the data it's collecting from users. Franken, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary's Privacy…
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and Technology Subcommittee, called the game's popularity “impressive” -- with 7.5 million downloads in the U.S. since its July 6 launch -- but added in a news release that "Niantic may be unnecessarily collecting, using, and sharing a wide range of users’ personal information without their appropriate consent." Pokémon Go is an "augmented reality app" that uses a mobile device to introduce animated creatures and activities into views of the real world, including a user's exact location, email and IP addresses, last website visited and/or Google accounts, said the release. Franken sent a letter to the San Francisco-based company asking several questions about the data collected by the app, whether it would support an opt-in option, user information shared with third parties and how it ensures that parents provide meaningful consent for their child's use. A phone message left with Niantic was not immediately returned.