PokemonGo

On this episode of Those Conspiracy Guys we talk about arguably the most successful mobile game of all time and a sensation that has caused as much controversy as it has joy, PokemonGo. Starting out as a card collecting game, a Nintendo Gameboy game and a cartoon in Japan, Pokemon have been elevated to the heights of Teletubbies or Buzz Lightyear in the ‘must have’ category of kids toys. This new mobile augmented reality version of the game has broken all records of apps downloaded and is in the pocket of 10% of smart phone owners

Is Niantic mining your data?

The conspiracy arises however, in the aftermath of whistle blower Edward Snowden informing the world population that the US secret agencies are indeed monitoring your internet use and accessing your personal data. This assumption has been heavily pasted on the PokemonGo phenomenon because of the business dealings of the parent company Niantic who have been in business with the CIA, at some level, for years. An older iteration of a similar game by Niantic and a comany they once owned, Keyhole Inc who were bought by Google, have conspiracy theorists sharpening their Hitchen’s Razor and asking Niantic; “Are you monitoring me and my movements?” or “Are you mapping the inside of my house?”

Crime, War, Death

We also discuss the spate of crimes around the game, with clever criminals using in game features to lure unsuspecting teens into dark alleyways and stealing the phones that brought them there! There are even people who are being seriously injured and the potential for accidental death is very high. Two men walk off a cliff in the US and suffer proper injury. Two! Men! Two of them; at the same time! And we wonder why China has banned the game in the paranoid manner they have. Sensing that the US have a plan to lay Pokemon all over China and identify military bases by the absence of players is really silly though right?