Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Menace
By KAREN ZRAICKJULY 20, 2016
Saudi men playing Pokmon Go in the capital, Riyadh. Credit Agence France-Presse Getty
Images
Pokmon Go, the wildly popular augmented-reality smartphone game, expanded officially into
26 more countries this week, even as some security and religious authorities around the globe
expressed alarm.
In Saudi Arabia, clerics renewed an existing fatwa against Pokmon, calling it un-Islamic.
Bosnia has warned players to avoid chasing the creatures onto land mines left over from the
1990s.
An Egyptian communications official said the game should be banned because sharing photos or
videos of security sites could put the sites at risk.
Russian officials sounded similar warnings, saying that the consequences would be irreversible
if Pokmon players continued unchecked.
Photo
Playing Pokmon Go near a sign warning of land mines near the town of Brcko, Bosnia. Credit
Amel Emric/Associated Press
The game is notable for causing people to range out into the world, walking into places where
they might not normally have a reason to be, pointing their smartphone cameras at buildings and
historical sites.
The game overlays a digital world of creatures, PokStops and other features on the real world.
Players capture the many types of Pokmon and then use them to battle on teams for control of
locations known as gyms.
Pokmon can be found in every corner of the earth, the app tells users when they download the
game.
And that is precisely the problem.
Pokmon Go is the latest tool used by spy agencies in the Intel war, a cunning despicable app
that tries to infiltrate our communities in the most innocent way under the pretext of
entertainment, said Hamdi Bakheet, a member of Egypts defense and national security
committee in Parliament, according to a report on Al Jazeera.
Photo
Playing Pokmon Go near an A.T.M. at a bank branch in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Credit Ilya
Naymushin/Reuters
Russian websites also published articles claiming the game is a C.I.A. plot, while religious
figures denounced it.
It smacks of Satanism, a Cossack leader told local media. The Kremlins press secretary
warned users not to visit the Kremlin looking for Pokmon, and there was talk of prison time for
anyone found looking for them in a church.
Kuwait banned the apps use at government sites, and officials warned it could put users
personal data at risk or be used by criminals to lure victims to isolated places.
Indonesian officials also called it a national security threat that could allow its enemies to
penetrate military sites and gain access to top-secret data. On Monday night, a French citizen
working in Indonesia was temporarily detained after stumbling onto the grounds of a military
base in West Java Province while searching, he said, for Pokmon figures.
Photo
Women broadcast a Pokmon Go game last week in Sokcho, South Korea, near the border with
North Korea. Credit Jean Chung/Getty Images
Israeli officials warned soldiers not to use it on bases as it could reveal their location.
South Koreas government already restricts Google Maps for security reasons, so Pokmon Go
which uses the data to populate its own maps wouldnt work anyway. But the app happens
to be working in one small seaside town near the North Korean border and busloads of people
are showing up to play.
The app uses geolocation features and enables the phones camera. Users typically sign in with a
Google account. An early version appeared to give the game full access to some users Google
accounts, but the company said that was a mistake that was reversed in an update.
Since the game was released on July 6, it has gained millions of users around the world,
including some who had already made headlines with questionable decisions to play at
Auschwitz, Arlington cemetery and the 9/11 memorial in New York City.
A spokeswoman for Niantic denied the allegations that the game is a tool of espionage, and said
the company asks all users to abide by local laws, and respect the locations you visit and people
you meet during your exploration.
Some leaders were also embracing the fad. President Reuven Rivlin of Israel posted a photo on
Facebook of a Pokmon in his office with the caption Somebody call security personnel.
The game is also being put to political purposes. Many users on Twitter shared what purports to
be an image of a dead Pikachu amid rubble in Gaza.
Lincoln Pigman contributed reporting from Moscow and Joe Cochrane from