Pokemon Go Raises Security Concerns for Google Account Holders

A Democratic U.S. senator on Tuesday asked the software developer behind Nintendo Co Ltd’s Pokemon GO to clarify the mobile game’s data privacy protections, amid concerns the augmented reality hit was unnecessarily collecting vast swaths of sensitive user data.

“Pokemon go has taken the world by storm, and it seems a shame that avid fans who were introduced to the franchise long before the app came out are now missing out because they chose Windows over Android or Apple”, read a recent comment from a supporter on the petition site.

Meanwhile cases of armed robberies and injuries involving Pokemon Go players have also been reported.

The app has proven to be a huge success after being downloaded 7.5M times in the USA alone in under a week, prompting someone to try and cash in at least.

Concern arose Monday about the Google account access after bloggers raised awareness of the issue. Reeve sounded the alarm, and the internet, unsurprisingly, freaked out.

You can download the patch now through the iOS App Store.

The game blends the real world and virtual world using Global Positioning System cellphone technology, but it also seeks access to the user’s personal data, like precise location, e-mail address and the last website visited.

Pokemon Go did recently release an app update to fix some log-in and privacy issues, but there was no pay wall to play.

See, the moment you launched Pokemon GO game on your device, you were required to sign-in using an account, remember? In response, Niantic said it’s drastically limiting the access it requests going forward and that it didn’t access anything beyond user IDs and email addresses. Reeve has also backtracked on his original posting, telling Gizmodo that he was mistaken in his analysis. But, since Pokémon Go does insert itself into your personal, real life more than other apps, your security qualms aren’t entirely unwarranted.