It seems the Pokemon Go roll-out in Europe has started.
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“Pokemon” Go players who used Google to log into the app on their iOS devices learned they inadvertently allowed game developer Niantic Labs full access to their Google accounts.
The data comes from mobile app intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which claims that users are spending more time playing the augmented reality game, with over 33 minutes of average daily usage, overtaking the likes of popular social networking apps like Twitter, Snapchat, and Facebook.
But one senator is anxious that the game’s maker has gone too far in trying to catch all of its users’ information. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, posing a series of questions to clarify how the company will handle user information. But Franken wants to be extra sure that Pokemon Go is not exploiting its users’ privacy.
Media reports over the weekend highlighted that Niantic pushes users to sign up for the app by linking it to their Google account. Niantic says that it never meant to ask for full access to your Google profile and only wanted your Google User ID and email address., Once the error was spotted, it went to work on the update and the speed of its appearance seems to bear this out. This means that what Niantic said earlier this week is completely true.
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Franken also asked Niantic to describe how it ensures parents give “meaningful consent” to a child’s use of the game and subsequent collection of his or her personal information.
