'Pokemon Go' Reignites Data Privacy Discussion, Isaacson Tells CNBC
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The "Pokemon Go" craze, a popular new mobile application created by Japanese electronics and software company Nintendo (NTDOY), is sparking innovation in augmented reality while also raising fears about data privacy.
Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, believes the new Pokemon app will help consumers think more about their data privacy rights.
It's collecting your data and also collecting all of your Alphabet's (GOOGL) Googledata. "That's a little bit much," Isaacson said on CNBC's "Squawk Alley": "It will inform us a little bit and make us think a little bit more about what data we want to block and what data we want to share because sharing that data actually makes the game more fun."
Niantic, the game's developer, received mass access to Google user information when people wanted to play "Pokemon Go".
Isaacson thinks, regardless of Niantic's promise to scale back how much Google data is shared with the developer, that this is an opportunity to think about "that we want to protect our privacy" and that "we also want to protect our right to share data when we want to."
"A little bit of an outcry and a little bit of a fix. That's the way the world should be working," Isaacson noted.
Additionally, Isaacson believes that the "Pokemon Go" phenomenon provides an opportunity for online education services, such as Khan Academy and Globaloria.
"I hope they build these things into learning apps so you can take lessons on Khan Academy or use a great game and education tool like Globaloria that teaches you how to computer code but you can win Pokemon things," Isaacson added.