@aral I had a friend who was *extremely* into Pokemon Go, like even in 2021. He might still be in 2026 for all I know … I haven't talked with him in years.

I hadn't connected *all* the dots yet back in 2016, and I didn't have the extensive knowledge you had … but I told him in 2016 or 2017 what the true purpose of Pokemon Go was.

It was crystal clear to anyone who wasn't a rube and paid some attention, even back then in 2016. Of course he didn't listen and only ridiculed me.

When ten years later people act as if nobody could have known, this frustrates even me who didn't have the extensive knowledge yet but knew this. How it must frustrate you! When you are on the record in 2014 and earlier predicting all this.

@aral

Precient! You and...

> Oliver Stone, creator of the film Snowden, pointed to the location-based game Pokémon Go as the "latest sign of the emerging phenomenon and demonstration of surveillance capitalism". Stone criticized that the location of its users was used not only for game purposes, but also to retrieve more information about its players. By tracking users' locations, the game collected far more information than just users' names and locations

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism