Sprint, Niantic Partner to Make 10,500 Stores Part of Pokemon Go

Sprint, Pokemon Go maker Niantic and Pokemon Co. International said more than 10,500 Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint at RadioShack stores in the U.S. will become playgrounds for the augmented reality smartphone game. In a Wednesday news release, they said that beginning Monday Pokemon Go players can advance their game at the locations, which also can be used to recharge their phones. Since introduced in the summer, the game has run into controversy over data collection practices (see 1609010083). Niantic CEO John Hanke said at a recent congressional hearing (see 1611160045) that the game, downloaded more than 600 million times, complies with federal privacy protections for children and collects only a minimal amount of user data, and that information isn't sold to third parties.