Andrew Cuomo asked the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to limit what games offenders are able to use and sent a letter to the game’s developer asking if it can help in the process. “We have to make sure that as our children are playing augmented reality games that we are not sending them down a unsafe path”. The decision to imply a ban on sex offenders from playing the game came when two NY lawmakers put in a request after observing high levels of Pokémon Goincentives near the residences of sex offenders, to ensure that PokeStops did not show up in such areas.
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In individual cases judges set conditions of supervision on sex offenders, restricting their movement, contact with potential victim groups and activities that could bring them into contact with potential victims, according to the probation department, which monitors about 845 sex offenders with Global Positioning System bracelets.
As is started on the offisial site of New York State, this ban will be part of the conditions for parole, prohibiting sex offenders on parole from “downloading, accessing, or otherwise engaging in any Internet enabled gaming activities, including Pokémon Go”. In California, Pokemon GO led children to the Sunny Acres Sober Living Facility, which is also home to a number of released sex offenders. “Working together, we can ensure that this danger today does not escalate into a tragedy tomorrow”.
State Senators Jeff Klein (D) and Diane Savino (D) raised the alarm at the end of July. “In addition, a feature of the game where, for a small fee, a “lure” can be purchased to intentionally encourage traffic to a particular location also appears to have the potential to be abused by predators”.
Rep. Jonathan Zlotnik, a Democrat from Gardner, filed a bill that would “prohibit use of location based augmented reality multiplayer games by sex offenders”. Niantic Inc and Nintendo phenomenally transversed social and cultural boundaries and easily extended player demographics with “Pokemon GO”.
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State Sen. Jeff Klein, a Democrat who raised similar concerns last week, said NY already prohibits high-level offenders on parole from using social media.
