A company owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund just bought the most popular AR video game of all time.
    • fxomt@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      39·
      14 hours ago

      Yet another good thing ruined by the Saudi government. Why can’t we have nice things? :(

      • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        14 hours ago

        I don’t disagree with the sentiment but PoGo has been pretty trash for a while now

        • fxomt@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          10·
          14 hours ago

          Yeah, but beforehand it was just a bad game (i don’t play it, but it’s clearly popular) but now it’s directly profiting the worst group alive. If there wasn’t a reason to leave before, there 100% is now.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
          104·
          14 hours ago

          Yeah. The second they announced it would be a thing, I said "what a great way to collect users data, and sell it to companies. PASS!

          I’m known as someone who in general predicts the worst case scenario, and then time and time again is proven right. Even I didn’t predict the ones buying this location data would be the Saudi government. I’m not surprised. I’m just surprised there’s levels BELOW my pessismistic mindset, and now we’re going there.

          I never predicted nazis in usa government. I never predicted the usa government would be used as a shadow government for russia.

          I viewed it more as “ugh, can you imagine going as low as I think we will? It’s going to be bad…”. And now we’re sinking so much lower. I THOUGHT we hid bedrock a few years ago. The only big thing I predicted that hasn’t happened yet is the second american civil war. I still think it’s coming, but now other things are going much lower than I thought they ever could.

      • patatahooligan@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        13 hours ago

        Bold of you to assume this wasn’t always the plan for Pokemon Go. A ton of online services are basically designed from the get go to be mass surveillance machines and the founders know they’re eventually going to be sold as exactly that.

        • fxomt@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          1·
          10 hours ago

          Judging by what they did with the data from Xitter, this will cost someone their life. Anything to make a quick buck, though…

      • pdxfed@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        11 hours ago

        Just wait until the “sovereign fund” trump is starting puts up assets like “former national park”, “federal water rights”, “state and federal timber land”…it’s all just an asset to be plundered to him. A hotel company to flip.

    • upandup@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      13·
      14 hours ago

      As far as I know, Saudi Arabia is not subject to the GDPR. They already have your data and will do whatever they want with it. I really don’t think there’s anything you can do to stop them.

      But if I’m wrong, please let me know.

      • Mad_Punda@feddit.orgEnglish
        5·
        12 hours ago

        If they handle personal data of EU citizens, they need to comply with GDPR.

        Now, what’s gonna happen if they don’t? I don’t know what mechanics are in place to deal with that.

        • upandup@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          12 hours ago

          While you are technically correct in that, everyone operating in Europe is required to comply with a GPR, there are many who don’t. And they face varying levels of punishment.

          But Saudi Arabia is not in the EU, and social media company can register in whatever country they want despite their ownership.

          So what will happen? They will fragrantly violate the GDPR, and escape any fines due to jurisdictional limitations. And even if they do face fines, there are some… “Political “ways to negate them.

          Sadly, even Europe, as progressive as it is, sterilize on Saudi oil. That can always be used to pressure government representatives into complying with their well rather than the Will of the people.

  • PetteriPano@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    14 hours ago

    I’ve tried some of scopely’s games. They’re following this playbook to the letter.

    You’ll be getting freebies when your friends spend cash. You’ll get time limited offers. You’ll be paying to “try again”, against other players.

    Who wins when a wall street broker and an oil sheikh use their wallets to fight over a Pokémon gym? Scopely wins.

    • fxomt@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      7·
      13 hours ago

      I’d assume same thing they did with the data from Xitter. Track down arab dissidents and butcher them, then dissolve their remains in acid so no one can find their corpse.