Governor Andrew Cuomo today directed the
New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to
restrict sex offenders under community supervision from using Pokémon GO
and similar games. In an effort to safeguard New York’s children, the
Governor also sent a letter
to software developer Niantic, Inc. requesting their assistance in
prohibiting dangerous sexual predators from playing Pokémon GO.
“Protecting New York’s children is priority number one and, as
technology evolves, we must ensure these advances don't become new
avenues for dangerous predators to prey on new victims," Governor Cuomo said.
"These actions will provide safeguards for the players of these
augmented reality games and help take one more tool away from those
seeking to do harm to our children."
At the Governor’s direction, DOCCS has
imposed a new condition of parole for sex offenders under community
supervision that will prohibit them from downloading, accessing, or
otherwise engaging in any Internet enabled gaming activities, including
Pokémon GO. The directive will apply to nearly 3,000 Level 1, 2 and 3 sex offenders currently on parole. The Department
of Criminal Justice Services will additionally be providing guidance to
county probation offices recommending the adoption of this policy.
The Governor has also directed DCJS to reach
out to Niantic, Inc. to provide the most up-to-date information of
offenders within the Sex Offender Registry.
DCJS will also contact Apple and Google to
inform them of these public safety concerns and work with them to
enhance user safety. Software developers that operate mobile games like
Pokémon GO should be entitled to the same information that is regularly
shared with companies like Facebook, Apple and Microsoft.
These actions were spurred by a recent
report by Senators Jeffrey D. Klein and Diane Savino demonstrating that
children playing this popular augmented reality game have unknowingly
been steered to locations in close proximity to, or even at, sex
offender residences.
Additionally, a feature of the game,
where, for a small fee, a "lure" can be purchased to intentionally
encourage traffic to a particular location, also appears to have the
potential to be abused by predators.
Senator Jeffrey D. Klein said:
"Pokémon GO provided sex offenders with a virtual road map to our
children. We know that pedophiles always seek new ways to lure victims
and this new technology that entertains our kids, could also bring them
close to dangerous individuals instead of Pokémon. In fact, my Pokémon
GO investigation uncovered a disturbing correlation between high level
sex offenders' residences and in-game objectives. While this directive
is a good first step, there's still more work to be done legislatively
to protect children who use this technology and I will continue to
monitor this situation. I applaud Governor Cuomo for taking action on my
investigation within 48 hours to protect New York's children."
Senator Diane Savino said:
"Pokémon GO entertains our children, but it forgets about the reality
of this world: it can be dangerous. Sex offenders who download the game
legally could pinpoint hot spots where children congregate, like
pokestops or gyms, and meet them in person. The investigation I
conducted revealed that these spots were located near the homes of these
dangerous individuals. I will continue to fight for legislation to keep
our children safe. I thank Governor Cuomo for immediately responding to
our investigation in the interest of children across New York State.”
As Attorney General in 2008, Governor Cuomo
introduced the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act
to protect New York’s children from online predators. The landmark
legislation, which has led to numerous groundbreaking protections for
internet users, mandates that sex offenders register and keep up-to-date
all current email accounts, screen names, and any other internet
identifiers with the New York State Division of Criminal Justice
Services. This list is then given to more than two-dozen social
networking companies on a weekly basis and those sites use it to purge
offenders from their membership rosters. Since enacted, DCJS has sent
approximately 52,000 records related to 18,544 New York state registered
sex offenders of all risk levels to 40 technology companies each week
in order to remove them from social network sites.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
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