This Intercept article covers some of the specific privacy policy concerns Barron hints at here. The discussion of one of the core patents underlying the game, which is described as a “System and Method for Transporting Virtual Objects in a Parallel Reality Game" is particularly interesting. Essentially, this system generates revenue for the company (in this case Niantic and Google) through the gamified collection of data on the real world - that selfie you took with squirtle is starting to feel a little bit less innocent in retrospect...