Niantic, Inc., the company that developed Pokemon Go, was founded by a man by the name of John Hanke, who had previously been funded by In-Q-Tel, a CIA venture capital firm, to develop the program that was later acquired by Google and named Google Earth. John Hanke was involved in Pokemon Go, and headed up Google's Geo division which included Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Local, Google StreetView, SketchUp, and Panoramio. Before that, he spent four years with the U.S. Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. and overseas in Myanmar, where he worked on foreign policy issues. Before they changed their web site some years ago, In-Q-Tel described its business as an "independent investment firm that identifies innovative technology solution to support the missions of the U.S. Intelligence Community." According to its own web site, the CIA established In-Q-Tel in 1999 to "identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge information technologies that serve United States national security interests." In 2000, In-Q-Tel invested in Keyhole, Inc., which developed 3D flyby images of buildings and terrain from geospatial data collected by satellites. The company was named "Keyhole" in reference to the KH spy satellites launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office. Google bought Keyhole and developed it into Google Earth. What the conspiracy is precisely is anyone's guess. For the purpose of Google Earth, this supposedly private company was given proprietary access to satellite data that no other private company has access to and while most of us might find Google Earth to be an interesting resource, the combination of its satellite data and camera information added by its Google cars that travel all over the country, and probably other countries, would allow for the collection of huge amounts of data mapping out the country, including people's houses and back yards. Assuming that data is being gathered from players of Pokemon Go, this would allow the collection of data from private citizens who can go into places that government agents might not otherwise have the opportunity to visit. Could it be that players of the game are being directed to specific places, at specific times, that intelligence agents are looking for data? When you add this information to the article posted by Julian Assange, of Wikileaks, about Google's relationship with the United States government, it gets so interesting that it makes my head hurt. I have ordered Assange's book, which I should receive soon.
@Ken Anderson So, the hidden agenda for CIA was to further erode privacy of individuals using highest-level technology? Gosh, are you thinking these snoops might be watching me as I sunbathe in the nude on my own patio, unseen from without due to the rock walls we built? Perhaps my wife's reluctance is well-founded.....(don't believe it, she loves it, too!).
I play Pokémon Go and I'm not worried. Most of the time you're not allowed to have cell phones in sensitive places anyway. So far I haven't been instructed to go anywhere either. There are hotspots where you can get rare Pokémon but They're all public places. In fact when you load the game it tells you not to trespass, drive while playing and to pay attention to your surroundings so you don't get hurt. There always seems to be a lot of Pokémon in well populated touristy areas. Not so many in residential areas. Most of the players are kids and teens who grew up knowing the Pokémon characters. If you haven't a clue about Pokémon characters it's difficult and boring...I knew Pokémon from My grandsons....all have collected the cards, the stuffed animals etc. it's been around awhile and It hasn't lost popularity like other toys have. Also I think the Pokémon Go game is fading as it's not as popular as when it first came out. I see less interest in it. When I first started I would see groups of people In a place like target with their iPhones out and I knew there was a Pokémon in that area. Don't see that anymore.
This is my game and since I'm home right now the map is my neighborhood and area. There are 3 Pokémon around me but I have them already and more than once so I'm not wasting any poke balls trying to get them. It's just like any other game app with in app purchases and that's where they make their money. I've already spent some real $ buying pokeballs and egg incubators...but not too much. You can play without spending but like all games it's slower going. Why do I play this game? Because my grandsons do and they enjoy it when grandma knows the things they are playing and they get excited to share.
I also just saw that I'm in the conspiracies section of the forum, it's not always noticeable if you go by recent posts or activity. No wonder my BP is rising.
When I got my iPhone, I switched to Google Maps for real-time directions when I drive. The first time I used it and put in my 'Home' address, I saw a little picture at the bottom of the page and there was a picture of our house from the road. There was something eerie about someone taking it and recording the address in a data base. Taken in the winter months, cause the lawn was brown...they could at least take it when it's mowed and green!
If you think of it, you'll know that your iPhone is listening to every word that is said within its proximity, as is my iMac now that the latest upgrade in the Mac OS has added Siri to the computer. Amazon's Echo does much the same. These devices have to listen to everything said within the proximity of the devices, and it has to be sending this data to a central processing center in order to know which words might require a response from them. Whether any of this data is being collected or used by intelligence agencies, of course, is up in the air, and in the realm of a conspiracy theory. Of course, the involvement of the CIA in funding these technologies certainly lends credibility. Is there someone sitting in a data center somewhere, listening to your conversations with your wife or your grandkids? If that were true, I don't think we'd have an employment problem. But I think it's likely that the data is being processed through computers that key in on particular words and phrases, so if you're talking about bombing a shopping mall or assassinating someone, perhaps your conversation is flagged for further investigation. Or if you're someone they're interested in for whatever reason, maybe someone is listening to you. I don't think there's any reasonable question that the technology is there, but I don't know if or how they're using it.