Pokémon Go Scans Trained the Navigation Tech for Military Drones

Post by beezlewax » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:42 AM UTC

muyuu wrote: post #150

pj_mukh wrote: post #111

As someone who works in this space, the headline is a bit of a stretch. The overlap in the locations of Pokemon Go Player data and any active Drone heavy theaters of war is a tiny sliver (or zero?). The military contractor (Vantar/Maxar) in question basically admits so but just "reserves the right" to use the data which is the political battle line ala Claude and DoD. This is mostly an ideological battle.

It's not like there's a moral high ground about not collaborating with the military. Unless you want to advantage America's adversaries, namely China, Putin's Russia and Iran's current regime. There's always this implicit, sometimes explicit, "war bad" childish political philosophy in posts like this. In reality war is a given and you have to be prepared to have the upper hand.

Post by gibspaulding » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:44 AM UTC

f4c39012 wrote: post #133

dotancohen wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... for any purpose .

With attribution

Post by roywiggins » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:45 AM UTC

sysguest wrote: post #148

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The overlap in the locations of Pokemon Go Player data and any active Drone heavy theaters of war is a tiny sliver (or zero?). But presumably the images/models at ground level can be used to train/improve the general performance of Vantor's aerial (satelite based) navigation system so it works better elsewhere?

well the article writes AS IF the whole intention was to: "get data for drone warfare" ...in 2021 (before the russian invasion...) but did we even EXPECT drone warfare to influence the war THIS MUCH back then? well not me -- I actually thought russia would beat the crap out of ukraine within a month (even after the failed spetsnaz attack on zelensky) the article's assumptions only makes sense IF some people had time…

Post by drfloyd51 » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:49 AM UTC

muyuu wrote: post #150

pj_mukh wrote: post #111

As someone who works in this space, the headline is a bit of a stretch. The overlap in the locations of Pokemon Go Player data and any active Drone heavy theaters of war is a tiny sliver (or zero?). The military contractor (Vantar/Maxar) in question basically admits so but just "reserves the right" to use the data which is the political battle line ala Claude and DoD. This is mostly an ideological battle.

It's not like there's a moral high ground about not collaborating with the military. Unless you want to advantage America's adversaries, namely China, Putin's Russia and Iran's current regime. There's always this implicit, sometimes explicit, "war bad" childish political philosophy in posts like this. In reality war is a given and you have to be prepared to have the upper hand.

Post by monegator » Thu, Jun 11, 2026, 11:52 AM UTC

muyuu wrote: post #150

pj_mukh wrote: post #111

As someone who works in this space, the headline is a bit of a stretch. The overlap in the locations of Pokemon Go Player data and any active Drone heavy theaters of war is a tiny sliver (or zero?). The military contractor (Vantar/Maxar) in question basically admits so but just "reserves the right" to use the data which is the political battle line ala Claude and DoD. This is mostly an ideological battle.

It's not like there's a moral high ground about not collaborating with the military. Unless you want to advantage America's adversaries, namely China, Putin's Russia and Iran's current regime. There's always this implicit, sometimes explicit, "war bad" childish political philosophy in posts like this. In reality war is a given and you have to be prepared to have the upper hand.