Muggers catch them all--as in, all of the victims--with Pokemon Go
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/07/armed-muggers-use-pokemon-go-to-find-victims/
Pokmon Go's Wednesday launch on iOS and Android has proven a
rousing success for franchise creator Nintendo and app
developer Niantic, with the app rocketing (Team Rocketing?) up
every major download and top-grossing chart. With arguably
the biggest augmented-reality gaming audience ever in the
West, the game is attracting a lot of attention, including
good stock-related news for Nintendo--but it has also already
proven ripe for exploitation of its players. In particular,
one major social aspect of the game--its "beacon"
function--has already been taken advantage of in the city of
O'Fallon, Missouri. That city's police department made a
statement on Sunday morning confirming that a group of four
armed men had used the app to lure victims to a specific
place, at which point they mugged the unknowing Pokmon Go
players. The statement mentioned similar robberies taking
place in neighboring St. Louis and St. Charles counties. A
Gizmodo report received a statement from O'Fallon's police
department, stating that "about eight or nine people" were
targeted by these muggings in all.
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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