JEFFREYD KLEIN

COALITION LEADER
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--

INDEPENDENT DEMOCRATIC
CONFERENCE LEADER

THE SENATE
STATE OF NEW YORK
ALBANY 12247

ROOM 9)3 LEGISLATIVEOFFICE BUILDING

ALBANY, NY 12247
(518) 455-3595
FAX (518) 426-6887
ROOM 432, CAPITOL
ALBANY, NY 12247
1250 WATERS PLACE! SUITE 1202
BRONX, NY 10461
(718) 822-2049
(800) 718-2039
FAX (718) 822-2321
E-MAIL. IDKLEIN@NYSENATE.GOV

August 1.2016
Mr. John Hanke

CEO & Founder

Niantic. Inc.
2 Bryant Street. #220
San Francisco, CA 94105
Dear Mr. 1-lanke:
Keeping our children safe from predators is of paramount concern to us. which is why it is
incumbent upon Niantic Inc. to purge all sex offender residences from its wildly popular
Pokdrnon GO game.
Wc recently released an investigation. Protecting Our Children: How Pokmon GO and
Augmented Reality Games Expose Children to Sex Offenders. During our examination of 100
Level 2 and 3 sex offenders residences, we discovered a Pokmon character materialized
directly in front of a dangerous predators propery 57 percent of the time. Worse. 59 percent of
the pokstops and gyms were found wiU in a half-block of these offenders, and 73 percent of the
time a Pokdmon GO related item was near a pedophiles home.
This game. enjoyed by children, presents serious real world dangers and we urge you to be good
corporate citizens and police your application to remove in-game objectives from the vicinity of
any registered sex offenders home.
While Governor Andrew Cuomo took a great first step and issued a directive to prohibit sex
offenders on parole from using internet based games. we introduced legislation that requires
game developers, like Niantic Inc.. to scrub any activities within 100-feet of a high-level sex
offenders address by regularly using the publically available data from the New York State
Division of Criminal justice Services. We also introduced legislation to ban high-level sexual
prcdators on parole or probation from playing augmented reality games, a measure we believe
must be codified in law.
.,1

We understand that the objective of the Pokmon GO augmented reality game is not to endanger
our children and we implore you to join us in keeping young players safe.
Sincere I y.

14/
Senator Jeffrey D. Klein
Independent Democratic Conference Leader
Senate Coalition Leader
34th
Senate District

Senator Diane Savino

Independent Democratic Conference
231 Senate District