A Democratic senator said he intends to continue investigating privacy issues surrounding Pokemon Go, the smartphone game that seized control of Google accounts held by users and siphoned their personal data.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said he would investigate further after he received an incomplete response from the game’s developer, Niantic, about questions he had raised.
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“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,” Franken said in the statement.
Franken in July asked the company questions that included why the game’s terms of service required permission from users to access information on all of their contacts, and why it seized control of their Google accounts.
Niantic responded on Friday that much of the information was needed for the game to operate, and that it had sought permissions related to Google accounts in error.
“Shortly after launch, we discovered that the app account creation and authentication process for users signing in with a Google account on an iPhone erroneously requested full account permissions for the user’s Google account. Niantic corrected the problem in the app on July 12, so that the app only has access to … limited account permissions.”
“As confirmed by both Google and Niantic, despite this issue, Niantic never sought, accessed, nor received any data other than a user’s Google ID and email address through authentication,” Niantic added.
Niantic includes an arbitration clause in the game’s terms of service that prevents users from participating in a class action lawsuit in the event their data is misused. The company argues that users have the right to opt out of the clause within 30 days of installing the game by emailing the company and submitting a request. The company has not acknowledged any of the requests to date, compounding fears about privacy issues.
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The company insisted it has not misused any user data to date. “As confirmed by both Google and Niantic, despite this issue, Niantic never sought, accessed, nor received any data other than a user’s Google ID and email address through authentication,” it said.
