eVestigator® Cyber Forensics Expert Simon Smith says 'POKÉMON NO' to Augmented Reality
Announcement posted by eVestigator Cyber IT & Forensic Expert IT Services 26 Jul 2016
Simon Smith - eVestigator®
PRESS RELEASE 26/7/2016 CYBER FORENSIC EXPERT ISSUES NATIONAL SECURITY WARNING
EVESTIGATOR CYBER FORENSICS EXPERT SIMON SMITH SAYS 'POKÉMON NO' TO AUGMENTED REALITY
Availability for further interview / discussion TV – Aus-Wide – 24hrs notice, Radio – 8 hrs notice –© Simon Smith 0410 643 121 - forensic@evestigator.com.au. Written consent needed to reuse/quote from this release. Contact: Simon Smith.
(eVestigator® aka Simon Smith, an expert in Cyber stalking and Cybercrime Investigations and a Master in Computer Digital Forensics says that our children and teenagers are severely at risk of physical, sexual and psychological harm from the use of this game)
© SIMON SMITH - EVESTIGATOR® URGENT PUBLIC MEDIA RELEASE © - CREDIT & PERMISSION ASKED FOR IN WRITING BEFORE USE
eVestigator®, Computer Forensics Cyber Expert –
CHFI, Computer Hacking Forensics
Investigator, Private Investigator
Phone: 1800 CYBER I, Direct: 0410 643 121
www.evestigator.com.au
www.cybersecurity.com.au
www.courtexpertwitness.com.au
Melbourne, July 26, 2016: Mr. Simon Smith of www.evestigator.com.au, and www.cybersecurity.com.au, a top Australian Computer Forensics expert, Cyber-crime Investigator, cyber-stalking expert and programmer of 25 years knows all too well the other side of what it looks like in a courtroom when somebody is the victim of cyber-stalking or white collar crime. He is often giving forensic evidence or reports in relation to high-tech computer crimes as an expert witness or private investigator. He has also worked on cases involving child pornography and the police, and is a strong advocate against Cyber-bullying, Cyber-stalking and Cyber-crimes civilly and criminally, and has helped hundreds of people attain justice and resolution in many cases, especially involving children and violence and forensic impersonation.
As a Commonwealth Appointed Family Dispute Practitioner, with the very difficult job of dealing with awkward family disputes along with his specialised cyber forensic knowledge and cases as a private investigator, he speaks of cases where he has dealt with kidnapping, abductions, cults, poisoning and more. Never, however did Mr. Smith predict that what he calls “Cybergeddon™” would come so soon. Simon explains the term “augmented reality” in the new Pokémon game as going too far. “Imagine walking in a straight line and a cartoon character appears in front of you.
That is simply what it is. A technology that draws a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world (knowing on their phone where they are via the GPS), in this case a character or an object named a Pokémon. It then uses the camera on the back of the phone to paint the background, so it looks like there is a cartoon in your view”.
He further says, “the earth is made up of various known areas comprising longitude and latitudes. These are known to the game and randomized, and the object of the game is to find Pokémon and physically step within a meter or so of it to interact, and likewise, collect other objects in the game”. He further explains that “these objects are randomly placed on or around you are on earth without any data verification”. Mr. Smith asks you to imagine your child, or teenage son or daughter walking around with head buried in their phone, jumping complete stranger’s fences, in and out of their neighbourhood, exploring places they shouldn’t be – knocking on stranger’s doors, asking if they can collect a Pokémon from their backyard.
Then he asks you to “stop imagining because it is actually happening now”. He then asks you to imagine a “destination” that may be randomly picked in the game for your child to visit. Imagine if one of these stops was say in the case of America, “The Windsor Hotel in Phoenix Arizona”. Would you be concerned if you knew that in this instance, this was a halfway house for sex offenders? He also asks you to not imagine, and says, “Well, that happened too!”
Mr. Smith deals with reverse cyber stalking cases all the time. Finally, he asks you to imagine that a group of bullies had a special directory which told them where a victim would be going at a certain time. It would allow them to lay a trap, and wait for the prey. Of course Mr. Smith says, “let’s not imagine - that actually happened too. In fact, only a few days after launch a gamer was robbed at gun point in dangerous unchartered neighbourhoods because the attackers knew he’d be chasing Pokémon they used game bonuses to lure there.”
Mr. Smith, both as an IOS and Android programmer and cyber stalking forensic investigator and court expert witness strongly warns the community and rates this at a risk of 10/10 to any parent. He states that It could be used as a directory for stalkers and paedophiles to find children, and cause danger to society in an already understaffed and underqualified area of policing, being organised cyber-crime.
Mr. Smith further states that it could even be considered the “Yellow Pages of Children and Teens” for Sex Predators – it could be easily argued that this is in fact no longer “augmented”.
Mr. Smith strongly advises everyone to be conscious of the line that has just been crossed – and understand that crime is still crime even if it is hidden in what appears to be a ‘fun super-artificial method of game play’. “It is not a game anymore”, Mr. Smith strongly states. “It’s dangerous, it’s real and it is most likely in the hands of your children now”.
Mr. Smith feels very passionate about the dangers he sees, in his expert opinion, he would strongly “recommend parents remove the game after doing further research” as he truly believes it crosses the line by masking serious cybercrime. He finishes by stating that, “It is ironic that people used to be afraid of the psychological effect of what violent artificial games may have on people, now I’m saying backed by evidence and experience, they should really be worried – because it has now crossed over to reality."
This is general advice and not to be taken as legal advice and naturally, not all game players are likely to contribute to this conduct, this is an opinion expressed by me raising concern in this area of augmented reality.
eVestigator®, Simon Smith
Computer Forensics Cyber Expert –
CHFI, Computer Hacking Forensics
Investigator, Private Investigator
© SIMON SMITH - EVESTIGATOR® URGENT PUBLIC MEDIA RELEASE
© CREDIT & PERMISSION ASKED FOR IN WRITING BEFORE USE
Please consider the environment before printing
EVESTIGATOR CYBER FORENSICS EXPERT SIMON SMITH SAYS 'POKÉMON NO' TO AUGMENTED REALITY
Availability for further interview / discussion TV – Aus-Wide – 24hrs notice, Radio – 8 hrs notice –© Simon Smith 0410 643 121 - forensic@evestigator.com.au. Written consent needed to reuse/quote from this release. Contact: Simon Smith.
(eVestigator® aka Simon Smith, an expert in Cyber stalking and Cybercrime Investigations and a Master in Computer Digital Forensics says that our children and teenagers are severely at risk of physical, sexual and psychological harm from the use of this game)
© SIMON SMITH - EVESTIGATOR® URGENT PUBLIC MEDIA RELEASE © - CREDIT & PERMISSION ASKED FOR IN WRITING BEFORE USE
eVestigator®, Computer Forensics Cyber Expert –
CHFI, Computer Hacking Forensics
Investigator, Private Investigator
Phone: 1800 CYBER I, Direct: 0410 643 121
www.evestigator.com.au
www.cybersecurity.com.au
www.courtexpertwitness.com.au
Melbourne, July 26, 2016: Mr. Simon Smith of www.evestigator.com.au, and www.cybersecurity.com.au, a top Australian Computer Forensics expert, Cyber-crime Investigator, cyber-stalking expert and programmer of 25 years knows all too well the other side of what it looks like in a courtroom when somebody is the victim of cyber-stalking or white collar crime. He is often giving forensic evidence or reports in relation to high-tech computer crimes as an expert witness or private investigator. He has also worked on cases involving child pornography and the police, and is a strong advocate against Cyber-bullying, Cyber-stalking and Cyber-crimes civilly and criminally, and has helped hundreds of people attain justice and resolution in many cases, especially involving children and violence and forensic impersonation.
As a Commonwealth Appointed Family Dispute Practitioner, with the very difficult job of dealing with awkward family disputes along with his specialised cyber forensic knowledge and cases as a private investigator, he speaks of cases where he has dealt with kidnapping, abductions, cults, poisoning and more. Never, however did Mr. Smith predict that what he calls “Cybergeddon™” would come so soon. Simon explains the term “augmented reality” in the new Pokémon game as going too far. “Imagine walking in a straight line and a cartoon character appears in front of you.
That is simply what it is. A technology that draws a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world (knowing on their phone where they are via the GPS), in this case a character or an object named a Pokémon. It then uses the camera on the back of the phone to paint the background, so it looks like there is a cartoon in your view”.
He further says, “the earth is made up of various known areas comprising longitude and latitudes. These are known to the game and randomized, and the object of the game is to find Pokémon and physically step within a meter or so of it to interact, and likewise, collect other objects in the game”. He further explains that “these objects are randomly placed on or around you are on earth without any data verification”. Mr. Smith asks you to imagine your child, or teenage son or daughter walking around with head buried in their phone, jumping complete stranger’s fences, in and out of their neighbourhood, exploring places they shouldn’t be – knocking on stranger’s doors, asking if they can collect a Pokémon from their backyard.
Then he asks you to “stop imagining because it is actually happening now”. He then asks you to imagine a “destination” that may be randomly picked in the game for your child to visit. Imagine if one of these stops was say in the case of America, “The Windsor Hotel in Phoenix Arizona”. Would you be concerned if you knew that in this instance, this was a halfway house for sex offenders? He also asks you to not imagine, and says, “Well, that happened too!”
Mr. Smith deals with reverse cyber stalking cases all the time. Finally, he asks you to imagine that a group of bullies had a special directory which told them where a victim would be going at a certain time. It would allow them to lay a trap, and wait for the prey. Of course Mr. Smith says, “let’s not imagine - that actually happened too. In fact, only a few days after launch a gamer was robbed at gun point in dangerous unchartered neighbourhoods because the attackers knew he’d be chasing Pokémon they used game bonuses to lure there.”
Mr. Smith, both as an IOS and Android programmer and cyber stalking forensic investigator and court expert witness strongly warns the community and rates this at a risk of 10/10 to any parent. He states that It could be used as a directory for stalkers and paedophiles to find children, and cause danger to society in an already understaffed and underqualified area of policing, being organised cyber-crime.
Mr. Smith further states that it could even be considered the “Yellow Pages of Children and Teens” for Sex Predators – it could be easily argued that this is in fact no longer “augmented”.
Mr. Smith strongly advises everyone to be conscious of the line that has just been crossed – and understand that crime is still crime even if it is hidden in what appears to be a ‘fun super-artificial method of game play’. “It is not a game anymore”, Mr. Smith strongly states. “It’s dangerous, it’s real and it is most likely in the hands of your children now”.
Mr. Smith feels very passionate about the dangers he sees, in his expert opinion, he would strongly “recommend parents remove the game after doing further research” as he truly believes it crosses the line by masking serious cybercrime. He finishes by stating that, “It is ironic that people used to be afraid of the psychological effect of what violent artificial games may have on people, now I’m saying backed by evidence and experience, they should really be worried – because it has now crossed over to reality."
This is general advice and not to be taken as legal advice and naturally, not all game players are likely to contribute to this conduct, this is an opinion expressed by me raising concern in this area of augmented reality.
eVestigator®, Simon Smith
Computer Forensics Cyber Expert –
CHFI, Computer Hacking Forensics
Investigator, Private Investigator
© SIMON SMITH - EVESTIGATOR® URGENT PUBLIC MEDIA RELEASE
© CREDIT & PERMISSION ASKED FOR IN WRITING BEFORE USE
Please consider the environment before printing