Pokémon Go Data Wasn’t Shared With Drone Company, Niantic Spatial Says
Reports suggest that spatial data collected from Pokémon Go players may have been linked to a navigation model used by a defense contractor. While Niantic Spatial and Vantor deny the direct use of game data in military applications, the situation has raised significant privacy concerns among users.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing tension between consumer data collection in AR gaming and the potential for that data to be repurposed for military or surveillance technology.
Pokémon Go ’s history of being used to collect data is well documented , with the AR scans people generate while playing the game being used to build AI-powered map models. Though players had to opt into the feature, many have expressed discomfort with the use of the monster-taming game’s in-app features to collect such data, and that discomfort has escalated as it has come out that Niantic Spatial, the separate company that owns all the original scans following developer Niantic’s acquisition by the Saudi-owned Scopely , entered into an agreement with Vantor, a provider of spatial intelligence that seeks to “deliver a comprehensive positioning solution that will enable air and ground platforms to navigate and coordinate precisely in GPS-denied environments.”
The article focuses on user discomfort and the potential ethical implications of data usage by defense contractors.
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