Niantic Responds To Senate Inquiry Into Pokemon Go Privacy (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via TechCrunch: Senator Al Franken has questioned Niantic, the makers of Pokemon Go, about how it handles user's information. He asked the company to explain several key details about how Pokemon Go works, including whether all the data collection was necessary, how data will be shared and how parental consent is obtained for kids who play the game. The game was under the spotlight soon after it launched when it was revealed that users had to provide the game full access and control over their Google accounts. Niantic general counsel Courtney Greene Power responded to Franken via a letter (PDF): "Country is collected and stored, to provide a user the appropriate experience; language may be stored in future updates, for the same purpose. The app collects certain information to facilitate important quality and stability objectives and to prevent abuse. This includes information such as mobile operating system, mobile device identifier, and hardware build information. This information is used to debug phone-specific game problems and to detect and deter cheating in the game. She went on to explain that players under 13 are redirected to the company's website when they register to play, where their parent must also register. Parents are then asked to verify their identity through third-party vendor, Veratad. "Niantic does not and has no plans to sell Pokemon Go user data -- aggregated, de-identified or otherwise -- to any third party," Power wrote. The company also adds that data is shared with mobile app analytics companies and with marketing and analysis companies, but these companies agreed to keep user data secure. The data shared with third parties does not include the data of users under 13, the company said, and no user data will be shared with investors. In response to the response, Sen. Franken said in a statement: "The launch of Pokemon Go earlier this summer represented a new era in gaming, but shortly after the app's release, there were strong concerns about how it treats its users' digital data. I appreciate Niantic's response, but I intend to work further with the company in the future to ensure that we're doing everything possible to protect the privacy of Americans -- particularly American children -- who play Pokemon Go."

Comments

Re:Full access and control...

[Anonymous Coward]

It was a "bug" at launch on iOS. After it was announced in a lot of "omg the world is ending" news articles it was promptly fixed.

He wrote a letter

[PopeRatzo]

Interesting that the headline says Franken "questioned" Niantic (which sounds like the name of a drug for erectile dysfunction, by the way). In fact, what he did was send them a letter, with these (quite reasonable) questions. In fact, these are issues that are brought up daily by users here on Slashdot:

1. Pokemon GO has stated that it collects a broad array of users' personal information,
including but not limited to a user's profile and account information, their precise
location data, and information obtained through Cookies and Web Beacons. Can you
explain exactly which information collected by Pokemon GO is necessary for the
provision or improvement of services? Are there any other purposes for which Pokemon
GO collects all of this information?
2. According to reports, Pokemon GO also requests permission to access a number of
mobile capabilities, including but not limited to the ability to control vibration on a
phone, prevent the phone from sleeping, and find contact accounts on the device. Can
you explain exactly which features and capabilities are necessary for Pokemon GO to
access for the provision or improvement of services? Are there any other purposes for
which Pokemon GO has access to all of these features and capabilities?
3. If, in fact, some of the information collected and/or permissions requested by Pokemon
GO are unnecessary for the provision of services, would Niantic consider making this
collection/access opf-in, as opposed to requiring a user to opt-out of the
collection/access?
4. Pokemon GO has stated that users' information can be shared with The Pokemon
Company and "third party service providers". Can you provide a list of current service
providers? Does Pokemon GO also share users' information with investors in Pokemon
GO?
5. Pokemon GO has further indicated that it shares de-identified and aggregate data with
other third parties for a multitude of purposes. Can you more exhaustively describe the
purposes for which Pokemon GO would share or sell such data?
6. Can you describe how Niantic ensures parents provide meaningful consent for their
child's use ofPokemon GO and thus the collection of their child's personal information?
Apart from publicly available privacy policies, how does Niantic inform parents about
how their child's information is collected and used?
7. According to reports, signing into Pokemon GO on iOS through a user's Google account
gives Niantic full access to an individual's Google account without the user's knowledge.
Niantic has since recognized that it erroneously asked for more permissions than it
intended. Can you provide an update on any fix Niantic is seeking to correct this mistake?
Also, please confirm that Niantic never collected or stored any information it gained
access to as a result of this mistake.

Considering the happy horseshit the US Congress has been doing for the past 6 years, I'm not sure this isn't a case of an elected official actually doing his job. Maybe that's why it seems so unusual.

Oh, and here's the full text of Franken's letter:

http://www.franken.senate.gov/...

Re:He wrote a letter

[arth1]

Niantic (which sounds like the name of a drug for erectile dysfunction, by the way)

It's the name of a town in Connecticut, as well as the Native American people for which it was named.