Just a day after “Pokemon GO” sparked controversy as characters in the game appeared in somber locations like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery, a US senator has called for the company that makes the game to give “greater clarity” about how it handles users’ security and privacy.
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A spokesman for the museum which provides documentation for the study and interpretation of Holocaust history has come out to state that it is “extremely inappropriate” for members of the public to try catch the digital characters from Nintendo’s title at the memorial.
The “Pokemon Go” craze across the USA has people wandering into yards, driveways, cemeteries and even an off-limits police parking lot in search of cartoon monsters, prompting warnings that trespassers could get arrested or worse, especially if they cross paths with an armed property owner.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery requested Tuesday that smartphone users refrain from “catching” Pokemon when they visit. “Do not lurk around the PD at any hour while you are playing Pokemon Go”, the department wrote in a release.
Many city landmarks, like the museum, are classified by the game as “PokéStops”, or places where players can get free items to use in the augmented reality game.
To make matters worse, disputed reports have surfaced that a poisonous gas-emitting Pokemon character called Koffing can be found in the museum.
Sawicki added the museum had already contacted game creators and asked them “not to allow the site of Auschwitz Memorial and other similar sites to be included in the game”. Cafe owners have set up in-game lures to attract unique digital creatures in the hopes potential patrons with real money chase them into the store. The National Park Service – which oversees the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial – posted on its Facebook page to encourage selfie-taking with their favorite Pokemon creatures.
“This is the first game where they really told all the gamers to just go outside”, Mandinderjit Singh said.
“We feel playing Pokémon Go in a memorial dedicated to the victims of Nazism is inappropriate”.
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The Holocaust Museum is trying to remove itself from the game entirely. In one instance, a woman mistook a few glowing cellphones for flashlights as players hunted characters near her daughter’s auto.
