Have Pokémon Go players been unwittingly training military combat drones?

• Niantic spin-off Niantic Spatial has been using Pokémon Go data to develop Visual Positioning Systems.
• Niantic Spatial has a collaboration with Vantor, a software firm with government connections.
• A new report attempts to show how player-submitted scans may have ultimately helped fuel VPS solutions for the military.

Pokémon Go was one of those rare mobile games that seemingly had everybody talking about it — even if you never played yourself, you likely either know someone who did, or have spotted its players running around with their phones in public, wondering that the heck they were up to. The game helped introduce a lot of players to the concept of augmented reality, and encouraged them to scan their surroundings as part of its gameplay. But now, years after its heyday, a new report is re-raising concerns about how the app uses player data, and the very real-world impact it could have.

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