Article by Nathan Olivarez-Giles at the Wall Street Journal. The story reports on a ‘fix’ by Pokemon Go publisher Niantic to the Pokemon Go mobile app in iPhones. Previous versions of the app permitted Niantic full access to consumers’ Google accounts; any app with such access can “see and modify nearly all information in your Google Account,” according to the article. Niantic claims it never used the broader information. Why did consumers agree to this access in the first place? According to Olivarez-Giles, “After logging into the app with your Google account, you would see a lengthy terms of service agreement (the exact sort most users never read), check a box about Pokémon promotional email, and then start playing.” In other words, the extent of the access given was effectively concealed in a sea of legal terms; the tree was not visible for the forest.
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