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Iran Bans Pokemon Go Over 'Security Concerns' (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the impending-doom dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Iran has become the first country to ban Pokemon Go, the mobile game where users (aka Pokemon trainers) roam the physical world in search for digital creatures known as Pokemon. The country cites security concerns for the reason behind the ban. "Any game that wants to operate nationwide in Iran needs to obtain permission from the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, and the Pokemon Go app has not yet requested such a permission," Abolhasan Firouzabadi, the head of Iran's supreme council of virtual space, told the Isna news agency. The Guardian reports that Iranian officials feel that the game can create problems for the country and its people. Iranian authorities use smart filtering software, a system that affects connectivity speeds and in many cases has replaced more traditional mechanisms for blocking internet services, the Guardian reported.

71 comments

  1. Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Stupid are the rest of the world's peeps!

    1. Re: Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I AM A REFUGEE TOWELHEAD AND A FAGGOT! I WANT TO INVADE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR ANUSES! Pokemon promotes heterosexuality and Christianity, so it must be banned. Allah demands gay anal sex from all people. Muslims are anal fuckers and we will recruit the whole world into the gay lifestyle. We hate heterosexuals, papists, and kikes! MOHAMMED, PEACE BE UPON HIM, TOOK IT IN THE ASS EVERY DAY! Towelheads will rule a world of faggots and all will experience the wonders of gay anal sex! Refugees will spread the faggotry of Allah to the whole world! Gay anal sex is the only path to Heaven and butt sex with 72 virgins of the same gender! Gay buttsex!

      I'll have what he's having.

    2. Re:Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Iran has become the first country to ban Pokemon Go

      Didn't Saudi Arabia ban it over a week ago?

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    3. Re:Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by unixisc · · Score: 1

      They just need to convert Pokémon to Islam, and Iran/Saudi Arabia will be just fine w/ it

    4. Re:Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by orgelspieler · · Score: 1

      My understanding is that was more to do with a long-standing ban on Pokemon in general, since they view it as Zionist for some bizarre reason. But I think that was a fatwa, not necessarily having the same standing as an actual legal ban. My understanding of religion and politics in the Middle East is not 100%, though, so look it up before you travel.

    5. Re:Again, Iran shows it knows its stuff by Lodlaiden · · Score: 1

      You're correct that they issued a fatwa against it, citing gambling as the main source of objection...but...it still works here...and most of the PokeStops are mosques...
      whistles and walks past the mosque again....

      --
      Suborbital [spaceflight] is the special olympics of spaceflight. - Rei
  2. GPS Spoof by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm going to GPS spoof all throughout that country. I wonder if highly populated areas with little to no activity increase rewards somehow.

  3. It will be better at... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    detecting explosives than their previous model did.

    1. Re: It will be better at... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wasn't that the Iraqis (and lots of other places but not Iran)? Those devices only sold where there was a particular mix of stupidity and corruption which is harder to find in Iran.

    2. Re: It will be better at... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Stupidity and corruption pretty much covers the entire Middle East.

    3. Re: It will be better at... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds just like America!

    4. Re: It will be better at... by Opportunist · · Score: 0

      The Arabs are a hospitable people, they just fake it so the US soldiers feel like home.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re: It will be better at... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Arabs are a hospitable people, they just fake it so the US soldiers feel like home.

      FYI, Iranians are not Arabs.

    6. Re: It will be better at... by unixisc · · Score: 0

      True, but GP's comments are true about Iranians and Turks as well

    7. Re: It will be better at... by funwithBSD · · Score: 1

      I don't think Turks are Arabs either...

      --
      Never answer an anonymous letter. - Yogi Berra
    8. Re: It will be better at... by unixisc · · Score: 1

      I neither said nor implied that they were. I said that the GP's statement about stupidity and corruption in the Middle East is valid for Arabs, Iranians and Turks. In short, all the Mohammedans there.

  4. This is a tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only security concern is that the country isn't making money off of a popular game. This is similar to a protection racket.

    1. Re:This is a tax by behrooz0az · · Score: 1

      They used to charge ~$50-100 for the permission and there was a whole lot o paperwork involved. I don't think it's the money.

      --
      Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion. -- Spazmania (174582)
  5. Quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When you outlaw capturing pokemon, only outlaws can become pokemon masters.

    1. Re:Quote by ArtemaOne · · Score: 1

      They need a new series based on this. That sounds very compelling. Darker, maybe mid-to-late-teens and anime styled.

    2. Re:Quote by riis138 · · Score: 1

      I laughed way harder than I should've at this.

      --
      Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan
    3. Re:Quote by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      So ... Team Rocket finally gets a chance?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. israeli army identifies a new threat: 'pokemon go' by sittingnut · · Score: 3, Insightful

    meanwhile
    https://www.yahoo.com/tech/isr...

  7. Smart by PPH · · Score: 2, Interesting

    How long will it be before someone sets up a PokeStop or Pokemon gym or whatever it is that causes people to congregate at a location and plants a bomb there? Or just messes with people by planting a rare Pokemon inside some sacred temple like the Kaaba?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Smart by ArtemaOne · · Score: 1

      The Stops are in churches and mosques and all sorts of places by default. It isn't uncommon for you to see Lures placed in them since people spend a great deal of time sitting still when you're there.

    2. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Niantic sets up pokestops and gyms.

    3. Re:Smart by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 3, Informative

      Most of the locations are actually user-generated. Niantic imported their POI database from Ingress to populate the map in Pokemon Go.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    4. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How long will it be before someone sets up a PokeStop or Pokemon gym or whatever it is that causes people to congregate at a location and plants a bomb there?

      Why spend the effort and create a potential trail of electronic evidence (Niantic records a lot...) when people congregate in larger groups for other reasons already? Do you think someone would have that much trouble finding groups of a dozen or more people. You could easily get more people by just advertising a party with free beer if desperate for a specific time and location.

      Do you also worry about the contributions to droughts from water used by people to clean their eye glasses? Do you worry about renaming DVD rips to shorter file names to save on disk space and bandwidth?

    5. Re:Smart by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      Becuase until there was pokemon, people rarely gathered in large crowds conducive to mass murder? How long will it be until someone sets up a starbucks that causes people to congregate at a location and plants a bomb there?

    6. Re:Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ingress hasn't let you submit new locations for some time, and even for a long while the back log was several months or more while you waited for Niantic to approve each location. Niantic also chose to only import a subset of the Ingress portals to Go. So, the idea that the locations were once upon a time user generated has little relevance to the worry that someone will create a new pokestop for the purpose of creating a congregation of people. The exception would be if Niantic reopens submission in the future, or if someone had been planning to to create a pokestop over a year before the game came out and survived two rounds of Niantic filtering.

      That said, there is a Ka'bah portal and even an Ingress mission there...

    7. Re:Smart by monkeyman.kix · · Score: 3, Interesting

      How long will it be before someone sets up a PokeStop or Pokemon gym or whatever it is that causes people to congregate at a location and plants a bomb there? Or just messes with people by planting a rare Pokemon inside some sacred temple like the Kaaba?

      Oh thats right, we should all go back indoors and forget that there is a real world out there. Its terrible that we have become so insulated and fearful of what could potentially happen that the first sign that we feel we can emerge from our darkened basements to see the outside (however augmented it may be) that someone screams chicken and wants us all back inside where its "safe". This is what the terrorists want. In fact this is what most governments want. They want and need a fearful populace so the leaders can implement more control over our lives. I say take back your freedom. Download Pokemon Go, Walk around and see your neighbourhood. Meet new friends and see that there is nothing to worry about, and stick it the the fear mongers.

    8. Re:Smart by aliquis · · Score: 1

      The Muslims were just fine altering the Kaaba in the first Place.

      At-least it would be more real, more purposeful, more peaceful and allow more people to join in.

      The problem for the Iranian religitards is of course that people may find out how fun life may be when you're not a brainwashed monotheist who spend your whole life with one thing where that thing is a complete obsession with what to do when you're not living any longer.

    9. Re:Smart by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It's a matter of magnitude. Imagine a Pokestop in a Starbucks.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re: Smart by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, the polytheists got it going on!

    11. Re:Smart by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      A Pokestop is active onece every five minutes at most Hardly going to cause massive crowds to gather.

      As far as I can tell, there are seven or eight Pokestops in my neighborhood (depending on how you count "in my neighborhood - the library is across the street at the outer corner), and I've never seen people gathering at any of them that wouldn't be there if there wasn't a Pokestop....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    12. Re:Smart by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Or that bait stuff. Whatever they do to make those things appear where they want them to.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    13. Re:Smart by PPH · · Score: 1

      someone sets up a starbucks

      One would be a problem. But there are so many Starbucks that the population density of customers is fairly well distributed.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    14. Re: Smart by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Yep, the polytheists got it going on!

      Life may not revolve about how everything you may enjoy in life is a sin and how you should dedicate your life to being dead then at-least.

      Sad to ruin life.

    15. Re:Smart by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      I don't have to imagine it. There are already pokestops near most starbucks. And it attracts people who would otherwise be at starbucks, to starbucks, but now they are playing pokemon.

    16. Re:Smart by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      How many pokestops do you think there are?

  8. Good Spy technique by Virtucon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Put all the Pokemon in that highly secure Atomic Bomb I mean er uhm Peaceful Uranium enrichment plant. Free Spying for everyone.

    --
    Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
  9. Re:SmartMONITORING by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    brown chipmunk calling yellow pelican
    come in pelican

    this is pelican
    another fish post for the pelican
    sounds delicious!

  10. Re:Tor, DoD & You! by sexconker · · Score: 2

    You're rambling a lot.

  11. Re: of course! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you mean the government employees?

  12. Define irony by agm · · Score: 3

    A theocracy banning a pasttime that sees you out seeking for beings that aren't really there.

    1. Re:Define irony by TsuruchiBrian · · Score: 1

      At least the pokemon exist in an abstract sense.

    2. Re:Define irony by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      It's a monotheistic religion. Meaning, they insist in having the monopoly on imaginary friends.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Define irony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they will use some of that $400 million they got in ransom money to create their own version where you hunt down religious relics.

    4. Re:Define irony by Bratch · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I thought it was banned because of the reference to evolution, or maybe that was Saudi Arabia.

      --
      Beware of the Redittor who loans you a Sharpie.
  13. No surprises by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Iran clamps down on twitter and other instruments of free thought and socialization.

  14. First country? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Someone forgot Saudi Arabia. Iran is only the first to do it over security concerns.

  15. Re:israeli army identifies a new threat: 'pokemon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that is a legitimate concern. you don't want third parties being able to track your soldiers and have access what is essentially roaming video feeds of secure facilities and their equipment and personnel.

    fuck that. i'm not military and sure as hell don't want any of that either.

  16. Re:of course! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    similar to google maps vehicles that basically is a huge surveillance system.

    Googles only purpose is being the government's spy machine.

  17. The crazy part is by KennethWatrous · · Score: 1

    You can walk down the Strip in Las Vegas and see all the people running into each other as they try to catch those pokemon. It used to be that you went to see the sites, drink a really tall cocktail, and lose your spare change on slots. Now all I see are people staring at phones.

    1. Re: The crazy part is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ahh, the good old days on the Vegas strip. Amirite?

    2. Re:The crazy part is by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Now all I see are people staring at phones.

      Well, look at the bright side. You can take women back to your hotel room while their boyfriends look for imaginary animals.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  18. by all means... by e432776 · · Score: 1

    ..these are the folks we should have involved in internet governance
    via UN
    other venues

  19. Re:israeli army identifies a new threat: 'pokemon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "army warned the game activates cell phone cameras and location services, and could leak sensitive information like army base locations and photographs of the bases."

    That doesn't matter. Israel's secret nuclear weapons program isn't a secret anymore. And neither are their numerous human rights violations.

  20. Re: of course! by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    So, this and the Plan9 post got modded down, but not the bolded post full of bigotry up at the top of the page. It's a shame that the moderators apparently are bigots.

    FFS, the mods are the users. The lowest a thing can be is -1, which it it. It's up top because it was posted before what is below it. This isn't reddit with up and down shit and namby pambies unable to ignore obvious trolling. Comments don't get deleted, the get modded by the users. If you can't hack being exposed to it and putting it aside as the obvious troll shit it is then maybe you'd be happier on safespace.com discussing my little pony with your interlectual peers. As long as the discussion doesn't get too heated that is of course.

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  21. Re:Pokemon is Patriarchy by stealth_finger · · Score: 1

    Not quite but it does heavily promote taking animals from the wild, imprisoning them and then forcing them to fight each other for your own amusement. No matter how you cut it that's some pretty dark shit. Animal cruelty means nothing to these people :O

    --
    Wanna buy a shirt?
    https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
  22. Re:israeli army identifies a new threat: 'pokemon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Human Rights in Muslim majority countries are as real as Islam calling itself "The Religion of Peace"

  23. American responds: Marg Bar Iran! Death to Iran! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Considering that Fascist Iran holds rallies calling for death to America, that Americans respond by calling for:

    Marg Bar Iran!
    Death to Iran!
    Marg Bar all Ayatollahs!
    Marg Bar their revolutionary gestapo!

  24. Re:American responds: Marg Bar Iran! Death to Iran by PPH · · Score: 1

    More likely it will be the Sunnis, through their Daesh militant arm.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  25. Iranian Authorities by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ah Iranian Authorities, don't ever change! You ban harmless things and get excited about the unexciting. Your irrelevance to modern culture is matched only by Saudi Clerics, a comparison you'll no doubt find exciting as well.

  26. I POST THIS ABOVE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    https://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=9503769&cid=52672469

    you have now Slashdot.

    Is anything going on in actual tech besides Pokemon GO or is this just the biggest click-bait honeypot story site of all time now?

    And I scroll down and see this Pokemon GO story.

    Umm am I just a little bit psychic?