The runaway success of the interactive augmented reality game Pokémon GO was overshadowed this week by privacy complaints, prompting the app to issue an update to its policies—but critics, including Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), remained concerned that its parent company is still trying to “catch them all.”
Franken wrote a letter (pdf) to Niantic Inc CEO John Hanke on Tuesday asking for information about the app and expressing concern “about the extent to which Niantic may be unnecessarily collecting, using, and sharing a wide range of users’ personal information without their appropriate consent.”
“As the augmented reality market evolves, I ask that you provide greater clarity on how Niantic is addressing issues of user privacy and security, particularly that of its younger players,” wrote Franken, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.
Using players’ GPS coordinates and Google map of their city, Pokémon GO superimposes characters from the games for users to catch and train for virtual battle against other players.
It was revealed earlier this week that Pokémon GO users were, in signing up, automatically granting Niantic access to their email address, IP address, browsing history, and location, among other data, unless they opted out of certain authorizations listed in a lengthy terms of service agreement.
And iPhone users who signed in with their Google accounts and did not opt out were allowing Niantic full access to their accounts, including read and write privileges to their email.
Niantic claimed that particular policy was a mistake, issuing an update that removed that access and instead only collected users’ names and Gmail addresses. But Franken wrote that other privacy issues remained.
“We recognize and commend Niantic for quickly responding to these specific concerns, and ask for continued assurance that a fix will be implemented swiftly,” his letter continued.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT