Niantic vs Global++
So to make a long story short. Niantic has sued Global++, a known association that create hacked scanners to fly on ingress (also pokemon go as well)
The idea (talking with other people about this) is to stop them for sure, and (we believe) to obtain every agent who downloaded this apk to make a massive ban...
remember that according to the ToS you can not falsify your GPS position and you can only get Ingress (and all of the Niantic’s app) from authorized platforms
Tell your ideas about this. I read you
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I am sure any users will get a short suspension, then come back unrepentant and make a mission banner commemorating their actions. Oh, wait. That was the last bunch.
Spoofing apk? I think the last bunch was more info indexing.
Is downloading it against TOS though, or using it? If it's just the use of it, then my guess is Niantic will suspend, or temp ban for downloads via game accounts. Even then, downloads can be accomplished with an unlinked account and used with a linked one. So, that's not a great tracer. This suspension/temp ban act would be more of a PR move, imo, so people see consequences for Illegitimate intention.
The people who created it however, for the purpose of falsifying agent locations and distributing it, can definitely be held directly accountable for their contributions in breaking the TOS as well as providing a service that helps other agents break it by misrepresenting themselves.
Read up on it a little bit since it's news to me. This link is a good reference.
The suit also includes:
"Extracting, scraping, or indexing data about points of interest or spawning locations..."
https://www.scribd.com/document/413474548/Niantic-v-Global-Mot-for-PI#from_embed
I'm sure hoping Niantic gets the names and other info from there user base. The tears will be amazing.
Cheaters are as bad to a game as thieves are to a store.
I heard Global++ shut down operations because of this -- good. I hope they didn't just go underground. And I hope the modified apps they distributed stop working soon -- Niantic would just have to change the API to break them, which they could do given they control the (legit) client apps and back ends. Of course that might break more grey area apps like IITC, which Niantic appears to tolerate.
Due to privacy laws, I doubt Niantic will be able to get customer information from another company. In this case it's too bad, but overall it's a good thing that we have laws to give our privacy minimal protection.
Absolutely they can if the courts order them to disclose it. How do you think torrent downloaders get sued for copyright violation?
Good riddance. Ban all those spoofers! No mercy.
The documents make for interesting reading, they are after $5000 in costs incurred, damages , all the money global++ made from selling all the apps etc and court costs.
Global++ are royally screwed, and serves them right
What needs to happen going forward:
1. Minimum ten day suspension of account ( can't do anything not even pick up caps) and a forced recycle of everything they have for starters, and go up the ladder from there up to and including pernabanning.
2. Do a far better job of cutting off spoofing and multiaccounting. Make that part of the Prime update when Redacted goes adios.
3. Be far more assertive about using Reports to suspend for ten days w/forced recycle. Multiple times for different violations = longer than a ten day suspension and forced recycle.
And give the banhammer if anyone tries to use the reporting process as a weapon. Trumped up or doctoring charges should be a permaban.
Convinced that a player is spoofing or multi-accounting and NIA isn't doing enough is more upsetting than a player you merely cannot stand their play style comes and renovates your field while you are taking care of RL responsibilities. I can deal with offending player one portal at a time.
Apple is also making sideloading apps more difficult, or so it was mentioned elsewhere.
This was about time, and thankfully the creators already stopped distributing their software and took their community offline.
perm ban all cheaters and spoofers.. they only hurt for us legit players... nobody wants them hope they win bigtime and sue them for huge money.
A big move by NIA. Money talks, BS walks. If they (defendants) are forced to give up their client list and other details of their patronage, the rabbit hole just got deeper.
Spring clean 2109...and NIA comes with a chopping ax! There are other leeches out there making big bucks abusing their platform and I expect NIA is just getting started.
"Grab the popcorn, honey!"
As someone living in an area with an unrepentant spoofer this is good news. I really hope something comes of this.
I hope Niantic can stop Global++ and all apps.
Great news! ^^/
EDIT:
(Oof, just realized this was a bumped thread... my bad... let old threads rest please...)