16 Comments

feeling a lil protective of bean head pikachu

Expand full comment

bean head pikachu needs help

Expand full comment

only in a griffin post do we go from pokémon sketches to hillary’s flop marketing to palantir and IDF in a natural progression

Expand full comment

pokémon’s ubiquitous it seems

Expand full comment

Reading this feels like zooming out while still seeing everything clearly, it's really impressive

Expand full comment

Raichu! You mean Raichu :'(

Fantastic article Griffin, new subscriber here. <3

Expand full comment

oh you're so right, thanks for the correction,—edited it up

and thanks! excited to have you along for the journey!!

Expand full comment

I should have Pokemon nerd in my bio, really : )

Expand full comment

banger

Expand full comment

"...distributed to various tech companies and defense contractors … And certainly it all was. That’s the unfortunate fact."

Do you have sources for Niantic data being sold to defense contractors? I feel like if it was it'd have been a bigger news story. The idea of pokemon go data being used for Palantir is intriguing, but I think you need more direct evidence before making a claim like that.

Expand full comment

i’m definitely making an inference here (i’m not a journalist or anything) but i do think that there’s such a staggering amount of data being harvested and handed around by all these google adjacent companies that it’s reasonable to infer that there’s at least some leakage, maybe not directly between niantic and defense contractors, but certainly between niantic and palantir, and then palantir and defense contractors

Expand full comment

I can maybe see the data being sold if Niantic ever declares bankruptcy, but I think it's too much of a risk to do so while they're still making money from Pokemon Go.

Expand full comment

I can see your point absolutely

Expand full comment

another day another round of applause

Expand full comment

hahah thanks valerie

Expand full comment

this is well researched!

Expand full comment