Pokemon go murders

[yiostheoy]

Murder seems to be a recurring risk from playing pokemon go at night.

L.A. Now - Los Angeles Times

Pokemon Go has had its first death

 

[waltky]

Playin' Pokemon can get ya arrested in Iran...

Iran Bans Pokemon Go, Cites Security Threat
August 06, 2016 - The Iranian regime apparently has little tolerance for virtual monsters.

On Friday, Iran officially became the first nation to ban Pokemon Go, the dizzyingly popular mobile phone app game that has taken the world by storm in recent months. Some countries, like Indonesia, have placed partial bans on the use of Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go uses augmented reality technology. It combines a real world map and superimposes virtual cartoon images in the cameras of mobile phones. Players walk around hunting for Pokemon, short for Pocket Monsters. When they appear on their phone's screen, players can catch them, train them and battle other monsters. Abdolsamad Khoramabadi, general secretary of the regime’s Internet Supervisory and Monitoring of Iran Committee, said in an interview with the state-run Tasnim News Agency that Pokemon Go was banned by a unanimous decision of committee members.

Iranians play Pokemon Go in northern Tehran's Mellat Park, Aug. 3, 2016. Iran was quick to ban the global gaming craze but as with many of the Islamic republic's internet controls, tech-savvy youngsters have carried on regardless.​

The Internet committee – also known as the High Council of Virtual Space - supervises online activities in Iran and is directed by the Iranian attorney general. Khoramabadi said national security concerns accounted for the ban, adding, “It might also endanger the security and safety of citizens.” Pokemon Go previously received an approval by the Iranian National Institute of Computer Games – which attempts to monitor and regulate virtual gaming; but, Khoramabadi said the institute’s decision was not based on a thorough investigation of the dangers of Pokemon Go. Pokemon Go is gaining increasing popularity in Iran despite Internet restrictions that force Iranians to find alternative access to online sites based outside the country.

‘Don't hunt me’

Danestaniha, the oldest Iranian technology magazine, recently dedicated its front page to articles about Pokemon Go. “Among some millennial Iranians, Pokemon Go has become a universal sensation and turned into an obsession in Iran,” Shahram Siahroudi, a Tehran-based game developer and technology expert, told VOA. “These days, some people spend hours and hours to increase their scores and I heard even some teenagers got into street brawls for hunting a character in their neighborhood.” The game, which uses Google Maps data, has had Iranian authorities wary since it burst on the mobile scene recently. “Obtaining the game through the Iranian Android market, known as Bazar, was impossible and the game was not accessible to Iranian users through Google Market,” Lida Ahmadi, a game developer in Tabriz, told VOA. “So users had to use the Virtual Private Network (VPN) in order to circumvent obstacles and download the game on their Android phones.”

The augmented reality mobile game "Pokemon Go" by Nintendo is shown on a smartphone screen in this photo illustration taken in Palm Springs, California​

Despite the obstacles, Iranian users say they have successfully found some of the games' virtual characters in buses in Tehran, parks, restaurants and in Hafeziyeh, the most famous tourist site in Shiraz. Users brag about their hunts by posting screen shots on Twitter, which is also a banned portal in Iran. Analysts in Tehran tell VOA that Iran’s moral police unit, known as “Gashte Ershad,” was a major force behind the ban. There are reports that moral police units have begun arresting Pokemon Go users on the streets and are deleting the game from confiscated smartphones. Some users are complaining about their plight on Twitter. “It's quite difficult to be in the streets and be focused on both hunting Pokemon and on the lookout for the Gashte Ershad,” one user wrote. “Don't hunt me. Life has become hard.”

Iran Bans Pokemon Go, Cites Security Threat

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Spanish travel agencies cash in on 'Poketourism'
Tuesday 9th August, 2016: Just like countless other countries, Spain has been hit so hard by the Pokemon Go craze that travel agencies are seeking to cash in on the global phenomenon with specialised tours.

Such is the interest that Junior Travel, a company based in the southern city of Granada, has been overwhelmed with applications from players looking to work as guides for groups hunting the game's cartoon monsters, just days after posting a job ad. Candidates must be players who have reached level 20 out of 40 at least, and the firm has already received more than 2,000 applications to guide tours that will take place in various parts of southern Spain and the cities of Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid. "Every minute we get three or four applications," said Antonio Barragan, manager of the travel agency. "The HR guy is a little overwhelmed."

The augmented reality game, which uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay the cartoon creatures on real-world settings, has taken Spain by storm. Cities nationwide have filled up with people walking with their eyes glued onto their smartphones, hunting cartoon monsters with the aim of collecting as many as they can. Junior Travel's tours will see customers driven around in a bus and given expert guidance on hunting Pokemon, for up to 43 euros a day. The routes are "so that people don't get bored of the game in their city, and go hunt Pokemon in other provinces," said Barragan.

The company's first tours to Granada from neighbouring areas take place on Saturday, and it also plans to launch Pokemon routes to Madrid on Sunday or Monday. But it is not the only company taking advantage of Pokemon Go in Spain. Felices Vacaciones, for instance, offers an 11-night travel package for 1,695 euros to hunt in the United States, which is reportedly one of the only countries where Tauros, one of the many Pokemon creatures, can be caught. People in other countries have also taken advantage of the craze, with similar tours taking place in London, Edinburgh or Mexico City.

Spanish travel agencies cash in on 'Poketourism'

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Murder seems to be a recurring risk from playing pokemon go at night.

L.A. Now - Los Angeles Times

Pokemon Go has had its first death

I said it was dangerous. Now people are getting murdered. What will it take?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - don't play Pokemon whilst ya drivin'...

Pokemon Go: Japanese truck driver kills woman while playing game
Friday 26th August, 2016 - A Japanese truck driver has killed one woman and injured another after driving into them while playing Pokemon Go.

The incident marks the first death related to the Pokemon Go craze in Japan, and could be the first time that someone playing the game has been responsible for a death. The driver said that he had been distracted by the game when he collided with the two women. He has since been arrested for negligent driving, a spokesman for the Tokushima prefectural police said. "The driver is still in custody. No decision has been made yet on whether to proceed with a prosecution," he added. A spokesman for Niantic Inc, which developed Pokemon GO jointly with Nintendo affiliate Pokemon Company, said the company had added a pop-up to the Pokemon Go screen when it detected an increase in speed asking for confirmation the user was not driving. He didn't say whether the developer would take further steps to guard against accidents.

Driver said that he had been distracted by Pokemon Go when he collided with the two women​

A spokesman for Nintendo offered condolences to the family of the dead woman. "Pokemon Company and Niantic endeavour to create an environment where people can play the game safely and we will continue to do that," he added when asked whether the company would take any new measures to guard against accidents. The popularity of augmented-reality Pokemon Go around the world has generated crowds of people in parks and other public places as user search for monsters, but has also been blamed for injuries and robberies of distracted users. Signs at parks and other places in Japan have asked users to avoid creating a nuisance. Pokemon incidents elsewhere have spurned warnings from authorities for users to play responsibly.

In Taiwan on Sunday Pokemon Go monster hunters caused a stampede in Taipei blocking streets in the capital. Police there have increased fines on scooter riders found playing the game in traffic. News reports in July claimed that a Guatemalan teenager was the first Pokemon fatality after he was shot breaking into a house while playing the game. Also in July, Pokemon Go players were robbed of their smartphones at gunpoint in a north London park in Britain, while four teens in Missouri in the U.S. used the game to target around a dozen people into armed robberies.

Pokemon Go: Japanese truck driver kills woman while playing game - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk