Quickly responding to (nonexistant?) problem, NY Gov bars paroled sex offenders from playing Pokemon Go
For sex offenders in New York, it will be Pokémon No Go. Gov. Cuomo Sunday ordered that the state make it a condition of parole for sex offenders that they stay away from Pokémon Go and similar interactive games, the Daily News has learned.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision is barring all registered sex offenders under supervision from downloading, accessing, or playing such Internet gaming activities, under the directive.
Roughly 3,000 predators currently on state parole will be immediately impacted, state officials said. The state will also be sending guidance to the counties around the state that supervise another 5,000 lower level convicted sex offenders urging them to adopt the new policy.
“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,” 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.”
The Pokémon Go app sends players on a hunt to catch digital Pokémon characters. If a sex offender is caught playing the game in New York, it would be a violation of the terms of their parole and they could be returned to prison, a Cuomo aide said.
Cuomo also sent a letter to software developer Niantic Inc. to request assistance in keeping Pokémon Go out of the hands of sex predators. “The State has taken action to prohibit sex offenders from using this game, but we need your assistance to make certain that sex offenders will not continue to use Pokémon GO by technologically barring their use,” Cuomo wrote in the letter. “Working together, we can ensure that this danger today does not escalate into a tragedy tomorrow.”
The governor also directed the Department of Criminal Justice Services to provide Niantic with the most recent version of the state’s sex offender registry in the hopes the company will use the list to keep people from having access to the app. The Department of Criminal Justice Services will also contact Apple and Google “to inform them of these public safety concerns and work with them to enhance user safety,” Cuomo said.
The order and letter came two days after state Sens. Jeffrey Klein and Diane Savino released a report titled “Protecting Our Children: How Pokémon Go and Augmented Reality Games Expose Children To Sex Offenders.” After sending staffers over a two-week period to more than 100 homes of level-2 and level-3 sex offenders in the city, the senators found that characters generated by the Pokémon Go app appeared 57% of the time. That figure rose to 73% when related items like PokeStops and Pokémon gyms are factored in, the report showed. The two senators called for passage of legislation that would keep young children and other players at least 100 feet away from a convicted sex offender’s home.
Officials have also expressed concern that a feature of Pokémon Go called a “lure” can make it easier for sex predators to tempt potential victims to come to their homes. Savino on Friday said there’s no evidence to any kids were sexually abused after being lured by the Pokémon app.
In light of the last line I have highlighted above, suppose New Yorkers should be grateful that state officials have been so quick to deal with the problem of “Poke Perves” even before such a problem even exists. Sigh.