Technology

Oh man.. probably should have passed laws to regulate data harvesting and digital privacy back in the 90s

when the Internet was still just a series of tubes...

Oh no, not only the very ethical American companies get my data?
What a disaster.

Wait until you find out that Saudi Arabia have a big stake in Disney, Facebook and OpenAI.

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Remember when the US was going to make them into a "pariah state"?
Thinks changed quickly when you could sell them $350,000,000,000 worth of murder stuff didn't it?
Made a lot less waves back then.
Priorities I guess.

I’d imagine this isn’t going to stop anyone from using it though.

Tell me again how tik tok is a Chinese spy network? When they can just BUY our information like this?

Saudi Arabia isn't a person. I hate it when news titles aren't specific enough. Is it the government that bought them? A private company? Just a dude that happens to be Saudi? The implications can change drastically based on who bought it.

Also the article link isn't working for me so all i got is the title. And as most people that'd see it, they'd also only read the title, this type of simplification can lead to a lot of misinformation. Or worse, racism, as you combine a whole country and its people to one entity which is dehumanizing. I'm speaking from experience as a Saudi person who's always grouped with the "saudi" or "Arabic " or "brown" groups instead of another human being.

In short, news should stop generalizing and be more specific, especially in the titles, the part that most people will interact with.

A country that investing in any successful product doesn't mean they want your data. If they are interested they can buy it directly from any large organization and if must they can use spy ware or other means of intelligence.

If you have privacy concern, you have bigger issue than a game that is for all we know is dying game.

Saudi Arabia? I remember about 10 or so years ago that Saudi Arabia had banned Pokemon because "it promotes materialism".

What changed?

Saudi Govt: So MbS, what are we doing this week?

MbS: Well, first we’re gonna buy Pokémon Go, and if THAT goes well, then we’ll try to negotiate peace for Ukraine.

Saudi Govt: Priorities, Crowned Prince Mohammed. 💪

Lol everyone owns your data except for you

Haven't played the game in years, and wasn't aware of any of this. People discussing "What's worse, Saudi Arabia or Niantic?" feels positively dystopian.

Yay, capitalism.

I'm glad I never played that game. Call me old fashioned but I prefer the original Pokemon games on the Gameboy, that's all I ever played. It was fun going to friends' houses and gatherings and trading Pokemon over Link cable. Fun times.

I'm a level 50 Pokémon Go player, who has played since release day, and that's the app deleted.

Next up will be requesting removal of my data under GDPR.

Scopely is the company that bought Pokemon Go (and others). Scopely was not created by the Saudi Arabian Government as the article states. It was created in the US. But was purchased by Savvy Games (A Saudi Arabian company) in 2023. It still operates independently and is based in the US. Though I do admit they probably report up all the way. Scopely is also the developer of Monopoly Go.

I've tried some of scopely's games. They're following this playbook to the letter.

You'll be getting freebies when your friends spend cash. You'll get time limited offers. You'll be paying to "try again", against other players.

Who wins when a wall street broker and an oil sheikh use their wallets to fight over a Pokémon gym? Scopely wins.

Time to never use any of their products again

I guess I’m glad I had a windows phone during the Pokémon go craze