PSA: Pokemon Go Has Full Access To Your Google Account Data (techcrunch.com)

If you're an iPhone user and have installed Pokemon GO, you may have noticed that the app grants itself full access to your Google account.

 It can read your email, location history, documents and pretty much every else associated with your Google account.

 (You can check to see for yourself here.) 

 Given the nature of the game, it's understandable for it to request a lot of permissions, as it needs your precise location, ability to access the camera and motion sensors, read and write the SD card, and charge you money when you run out of Pokeballs or eggs.

 But full access to your Google account is pushing it, even if Niantic or Nintendo has no malicious intentions. 

If you're concerned about these permissions, you can always sign-up using a Pokemon Trainer account, assuming the servers are permitting. 

Google describes full account access as such: 

"When you grant full account access, the application can see and modify nearly all information in your Google Account (but it can change your password, delete your account, or pay with Google Wallet on your behalf). 

This 'Full account access' privilege should only be granted to applications you fully trust, and which are installed on your personal computer, phone, or tablet."

'Pokémon Go' Is A Huge Security Risk On iOS

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Pokemon Go Was Never Able To Read Your Email (gizmodo.com

 
Last week a security researcher noted that Pokemon Go's iOS app -- for whatever reason -- was gleaning complete hold of one's Google account. 

 But is that really the case? 

Gizmodo contacted Adam Reeve, the security researcher in question (who also happens to be a former senior engineering manager at Tumblr) to get more details on his claims, upon which Reeve, now Principal Architect at Red Owl Analytics, said he wasn't "100 percent sure" his blog was true.

  From the report: 

 Cybersecurity expert and CEO of Trail of Bits Dan Guido has also cast serious doubt on Reeve's claim, saying Google tech support told him "full account access" does not mean a third party can read or send or send email, access your files or anything else Reeve claimed. 

It means Niantic can only read biographical information like email address and phone number.

 In a statement, Google tech support said:In this case, we checked that the Full account access permission refers to most of the My account settings. 

Specific actions such as sending emails, modifying folders, etc, require explicit permissions to that service (the permission will say "Has access to Gmail")Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go app also assures that its app doesn't access anyone's email. 

 Moreover, it is working with Google to ensure that only a user's profile data is accessed by the app. In a statement to Gizmodo, the company said: 

We recently discovered that the Pokemon GO account creation process on iOS erroneously requests full access permission for the user's Google account. 

However, Pokemon GO only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected. 

Once we became aware of this error, we began working on a client-side fix to request permission for only basic Google profile information, in line with the data that we actually access.

 Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokemon GO or Niantic. 

Google will soon reduce Pokemon GO's permission to only the basic profile data that Pokemon GO needs, and users do not need to take any actions themselves. 

Perhaps people should be more careful about the accusations they make.

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Ok the future of business advertising and success using Pokemon Go As A Great Tool. 

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Law enforcement agencies around the globe are reminding citizens to obey trespassing laws and follow common sense when playing Pokemon Go. 

The new crazy-popular mobile game has led to some frightening results in recent days, such as the location of a dead body and robberies of players in Missouri. 

Now, San Francisco Police Department Captain Raj Vaswani warned in one online posting for players to "obey traffic laws, please.

 Do not run into trees, meters, and things that are attached to the sidewalk; they hurt," he said.

 "Do not drive or ride your bike / skateboard / hipster techie device while interacting with the app.

 Know where your kids are going when playing with the app, set limits on where they can go, so they don't keep going trying to get that Pokemon."