Posted by vrganj 18 hours ago
The map went to offense. Nobody needs scans of someone else's country for "defense".
At this point it's a given that any data source that can bring an edge in a conflict is being used for exactly that. Things that film and scan surroundings are the newest addition. When a fleet of cars is taking cm or mm resolution scans of entire cities or even countries the safe assumption is that the data is funneled for intelligence and military purposes.
I mean, we have a lot of weird shit going down right now... like AI being used to automate art BEFORE it's being used to automate dangerous and menial jobs, but knowing that people are being killed with help from data generated by millions of kids and young adults playing a fun, cute videogame is just so freaking dark and weird.
We are a very strange species and I don't have a great deal of hope for our future.
Same mentality.
This is not at all an honest way of saying "Niantics founder raised money from In-Q-Tel"
For the company, it’s a stretch but tenable. Saying the “founder has CIA roots” solely because they took an In-Q-Tel cheque is just wrong.
If someone claimed to have a CIA background solely on the basis that In-Q-Tel funded their mapping software, they'd be a charlatan. Just as a guy selling toilet paper to the CIA is not necessarily someone embedded in the intelligence community.
And as long as I'm elaborating on IQT, let me add that they have been a terrific partner for us -- and we have found the individuals we have worked with there to be of exceptionally high character.
People literally traded military intelligence for Pokémon.
I mean, you can blame whoever you want, even Pikachu. Neither Niantic nor even one person cares who you blame.
It is a shameful use of tech.