Sex offenders under community supervision in New York State will be barred from playing Pokémon Go as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has taken action aimed at protecting children from potential predators.
While singling out the wildly popular new game, Cuomo’s efforts are directed at prohibiting sex offenders “from downloading, accessing, or otherwise engaging in any Internet enabled gaming activities.” The directive for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is spelled out in a news release on the governor’s web site.
“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,” said Cuomo, who was elected in 2010. “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.”
According to the governor’s site, the action will impact nearly 3,000 Level 1, 2 and 3 sex offenders currently on parole.
Cuomo also reached out in a letter to Niantic, creators of Pokémon Go, in which he reiterated the action the state was taking while also asking the software maker for help in barring sex offenders from using the game technologically.
“Working together, we can ensure that this danger today does not escalate into a tragedy tomorrow,” Cuomo wrote to Niantic CEO John Hanke.
Cuomo’s action was spurred by a new report from New York Senators Jeffrey D. Klein and Diane Savino which found that children playing Pokémon Go “have unknowingly been steered to locations in close proximity to, or even at, sex offender residences.”
“Pokémon Go provided sex offenders with a virtual road map to our children,” Klenin said in the governor’s new release. “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.”
