However, he did cite the need to reload the Global Positioning System faker every time the character needs to move, and playing the game without actually walking “undermines the vast majority of what makes the game so appealing”. When one security engineer tested the game to see if he could access personal information, such as a Google Calendar and individual emails, he was unable to.
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Pokemon Go’s privacy policy “suggests that Niantic can collect a broad swath of personal information from its players”, he says in a letter to John Hanke, the CEO of Niantic – a company that Google spun off previous year that developed the game.
Users who sign into the app via a Pokemon Trainer Club account rather than a Google account are now unable to access the game and its servers.
Pokemon GO developer Niantic Labs has updated its official Known Issues page, acknowledging major bugs that have plagued some players since the app’s launch.
Sameer Uddin plays Pokemon Go on his smartphone outside of Nintendo’s flagship store, July 11, 2016 in New York City.
Pokemon GO has stated that it collects a broad array of users’ personal information, including but not limited to a user’s profile and account information, their precise location data, and information obtained through Cookies and Web Beacons.
Logging into apps and web services using social media accounts is a common practice.
The Google account “scope” has been fixed. These suspicious activities, though, which have led to accounts getting suspended or banned permanently. According to outlets like the Guardian, Pokemon GO has likely surpassed the 65 million American users claimed by Twitter.
Niantic stated overnight that the security issue was due to what they called an “erroneous permissions request”.
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While the game has proved a hit, it still trails behind the most popular mobile games on iOS. While the game may have led to quite a few mishaps, users aren’t ready to stop at anything.
