The Ministry of Defence has banned Pokemon Go from being played on its premises due to concerns of national security. Defence Ministry Hishammuddin Hussein issued a stern warning against the game being played by the military, saying that the GPS system could record or expose sensitive information.
Hishammuddin did not explicitly ban the game from other military installations, although he did say that he would leave it up to the respective camp generals to decide on restrictions. As for the Ministry, there would be no compromise on the matter at all.
To be fair, the GPS data has been used to locate and target attacks for a few years now. The Taliban used GPS coordinates hidden in image EXIF data to locate and destroy four US Apache attack helicopters in 2012. Similarly, headquarters belonging to the Islamic State terror group was destroyed by an airstrike after one of the terrorists took a selfie and began bragging on social media.
The ban on Pokemon Go on military bases is not uncommon either, and at least the MOD is taking proactive steps against it. Indonesia only took preventative measures after a French national wandered onto a base while hunting Pokemon.
That being said, it is unknown just how much data Pokemon Go stores. While the game certainly tracks GPS data, it does not generally make it public. Admittedly, it could certainly cause some problems should screenshots of the game be posted to social media. But then, any pictures taken from military installations could cause the same problem. The US Army being a prime example of this.
[Source: The Star]
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
