📱Pokemon Go to War

In 2016, thousands of people hunted for Pikachu around their cities with their smartphones. At the time, could they have realized they would be contributing to an AI training dataset that would power everything from delivery robots to military drones?

That's not a hypothetical question. An AI company has been using billions of real-world images captured by Pokémon Go players—videos of streets, neighborhoods, and landmarks collected over a decade—to train navigation technology already being used by delivery robots and, possibly, military drones.

Privacy lawyers would call this a purpose limitation problem: data should only be used for the purpose it was collected for, and repurposing it—especially for something a reasonable person might object to—generally requires fresh disclosure and, often, new consent.

Consenting to sharing visual-spatial data to play a viral game is one thing. But nobody would think that hunting virtual depictions of Eevee, Gengar, or Bulbasaur would result in drones learning to more effectively navigate warzones.

Scroll down to check out the story from Ars Technica to learn more.

Best,

Arlo

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Save your seat | June 30, 1 pm EST

Top Privacy Stories of the Week

Pokémon Go Players Unwittingly Contributed to Tech with Military Drone Uses

A decade after the global craze for Pokémon Go peaked, an AI company has been using billions of real-world images captured by millions of players to develop navigation technologies for delivery robots and possibly military drones. That represents an intriguing but potentially discomfiting legacy for an augmented reality mobile game that has incentivized gamers to capture short smartphone videos of physical neighborhoods and landmarks.

Read more

Vermont Enacts Consumer Data Privacy Law

On June 16, 2026, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed the Vermont Data Privacy and Online Surveillance Act (S 71) into law. Vermont is the fourth state–following Alabama, Louisiana, and Oklahoma–to pass a law this year.

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Canada's Bill C-36 Introduces Privacy Reforms, Enforcement Changes

Canada introduced its long-awaited privacy reform legislation, Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act. Bill C‑36 would recognize privacy as a fundamental right, strengthen consent and deletion rights, increase protections for children, create the new Digital Safety and Data Protection Commission, and modernize PIPEDA.

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When Will the UK’s Social Media Ban Start, and Which Apps Will Be Affected?

A social media ban for under-16s has been announced by the UK government. It will be introduced in early 2027. The government is also considering an overnight curfew and measures to stop infinite scrolling for under-18s. The ban will cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X, the government said. YouTube will also be banned for under-16s, but YouTube Kids—a version of the video-sharing app designed to be safe for children—will not be included.

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Federal Court Dismisses DOJ Lawsuit Seeking California Voter Data

A federal judge dismissed the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit against the State of California in United States v. Weber, in which the DOJ sought to compel the state to turn over its full, unredacted statewide voter registration list—including voters’ sensitive personal data—to the federal government. The lawsuit was part of a broader series of actions by the DOJ seeking similar information from jurisdictions across the country.

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