
Pokemon Go banned by Iranian authorities over 'security' - LukaAl
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36989526
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ChuckMcM
ok, my next business card is going to say "Minister, High Council of Virtual
Places" (with a foot note "and virtual responsibilities.")

Pretty clear though that if you are playing Pokemon Go, and your actual
identity is attached to your account, then there is a way for Niantic to tell
someone where your are right now, and where you have been.

Given enough adoption in the population, that data set could be used to
illuminate organizations and memberships which might otherwise be considered
classified. Both for players, and for non-players.[1]

[1] Examples are available in the literature where people using good OpSec
were identified by employees who did not.

~~~
ivanca
But your Facebook, Twitter, Tinder and Google Maps apps already have access to
that location data. To be honest of all the aforementioned I think Pokemon Go
is the less likely to use that information for evil.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I don't disagree, perhaps Pokemon, by virtue of its active engagement while
you are using it, provides higher density data. The social networking and
mapping services really only note your location when you generate content or
seek an address. Waze however would be a good example of something collecting
location data all the time and potentially creating records of it upstream.

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0xFFC
As a Iranian I can always clearly see how foreign analyzers, do analyze Iran
issues from wrong perceptive.

The regime is afraid of peoples life style change. They do know if people life
style changes toward western culture then they have no place to rule.

Any banning, suppression / etc you can see from Iran regime is because of
this. They block access to YouTube, satellite, porn, Facebook, etc, not
because they think these things are wrong. They do it just because people must
not become familiar with western life style.

"If they become familiar, they will understand Islam,tradition,etc is bullshit
and if status quo changes ,then we don't have any place to rule"

P.S. I live in Iran right now and I always track political analysis about Iran
regime.

~~~
ComodoHacker
>If they become familiar, they will understand Islam,tradition,etc is bullshit

Don't they (government) themselves believe in Islam so much?

~~~
0xFFC
Nope. Don't be naive, they are professional politicians, they don't believe in
anything, at least when they are acting as leader.

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hashkb
What is the perceived security issue? People wandering places they don't
belong?

~~~
bitwize
More like the possibility that American spy agencies can use the app to gather
intel (about where military installations are located, what's there, etc.).

~~~
hashkb
So they're worried about us accidentally crowdsourcing our spying? Don't we
have drones and satellites and stuff?

~~~
TeMPOraL
Some things may be obscured from above but clearly visible from ground level.

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eternalban
Israel also shares this concern, apparently:
[http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/08/01/world/middleeast/...](http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/08/01/world/middleeast/ap-
ml-israel-pokemon-go.html)

~~~
dogma1138
Israel banned it on military bases (it wouldn't surprise me if most countries
do the same), you have an active application which records GPS coordinates,
near by players, and uses the camera this conflicts with even basic opsec.

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msoad
For a long time they didn't know why or if they should ban it. They simply
didn't know what to expect of it is open to public so they banned it.

How China is dealing with this? Are they allowing people to play Pokemon Go?

~~~
leojg
How does China comes to an Iran thread?

I think this issue is more about that for the type of islam practiced in iran
any form of representation of images of living beings is a sin.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Any citation or that? It looks to me you're just raising bullshit accusation.

Pokémon Go can be rightfully suspected to be a surveillance device given how
it works (geotracking, camera overlays and stuff) and how popular it is among
general population. Not every nation is, or wants to be, in bed with the US,
so such concerns are no surprise.

~~~
leojg
Accusation of what? I just telling you that I think that as pokemons are
representations of (fictional) beigns, its a sin in the view of some islam
branches/currents (I dont know how they are divided) I'm not an expert in any
religion and my source is a youtube video which named the fact as a side note.

But is just a point... Im not intending to provoke a flamewar...

About the "surveillance", I don't buy it, all that the game is doing, is
already being done by google itself.

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tim333
I can see the problem if the CIA have Niantic put a Charizard in a suspected
nuclear enrichment plant and send back photos.

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rezashirazian
the Islamic Republic generally views phenomenons beyond its 1979 revolution
that amass popularity as a threat.

