The Pokemon Go craze has taken the world by storm and we’ve already heard lots of unfortunate stories of people getting robbed or getting hurt while they were too busy playing the game. To prevent something truly horrific from happening, New York’s correctional department has made playing online games, particularly Pokemon Go, a parole violation for sex offenders at the direction of Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo said in a statement that people who are on the sex offender registry are now banned from “downloading, accessing, or otherwise engaging in any internet enabled gaming activities, including Pokémon Go.”
The governor has also published a letter online that he has sent to Pokemon Go developer Niantic seeking its cooperating in preventing registered sex offenders from signing up for the popular game.
Cuomo made this decision following a report released last week by two New York state senators. Jeffrey Klein and Diane Savino visited locations of 100 registered sex offenders in New York City and found that there were 57 Pokemon as well as 59 Pokestops and gyms within half a city block.
The state senators were particularly concerned about the lures that players can use to draw Pokemon to a particular location, lures work for drawing fellow players as well, so you can see why this is a legitimate concern.
Lures have already been used to rob Pokemon Go players and while no case of sexual predators using them for their horrific actions has been reported as yet, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Filed in . Read more about Pokémon GO.