Notice "Pokeman Go" yet?? Google Earth Intelligence Gathering GEOINT/IMINT

a reply to: boncho

I'm sorry if I'm being off-topic but how does that work out? Is she completely clueless about the state of the World - mainly interested in entertainment? Differences in ideology.. conspiracy theorist and......

"and I simply ignore as much as possible." Sounds pretty hilarious when you put it that way..

a reply to: TheLaughingGod

She's my rock who keeps me from going too far off in the deep end I guess. I would never in a million years want to be married to a conspiracy theorist. I have enough odd interpretations of the world for the two of us. Exploring this subject is my hobby, and when I do that she watches reality TV or gossip columns or whatever. It works out well. You're better paired with your opposite I think.

Id never discuss conspiracy topics in real life either btw, maybe 1 or 2 friends here or there. But mildly. I get out all my tinfoil demons online and go back to reality in...well reality.

I dont even care. This game has brought me a lot of fun and nostalgia.

The game is pretty bare bones, It has a novelty factor that will burn up in a few months. Time will tell if they know how to capitalize on this. If they can get a good trading system setup quickly it will get some staying power.

As for GPS and tracking. If someone was actually worried about that they would not carry a phone at all. Thanks to phones humans won't have to be chipped lol.

Maybe I'm just thick tonight (I AM very nearly falling asleep),but I don't get it. Okay, digitally mapping out Everything. Got it. Where is the sinister part though?
Can I have a scenario where this is a scary thing? Its not as if those images are capturing views that are unattainable...anyone (including whatever PTB) can literally go and see these same locations and take a pic themselves and send it in or whatever--I dunno.
Obviously that would be more time consuming and probably more costly so, what? PoGo players are free labor? PoGo players are doin' their dirty work?
What am I missing here?

a reply to: boncho

I played the game today with my daughter; still don't think it's sophisticated enough to now be used by government agencies. You posted some nice pictures... but they are cherry picked to make the articles they came from look nice.

All our screen captures today involved patches of grass my baby daughters nee and what I think is dog poop. If that helps the CIA than they are playing on a whole other plane that I can't even begin to imagen.

If this game is just a test run for a more sophisticated system in the future I might see your theory to be more viable. But as it stands now; it's just a tracking system.

What a retarded notion. The government has spy sats, spy drones, spy insect robots, can hack whatever they want, but the death of us will be POKEMON.

Give TFU already & just

a reply to: boncho

That's a great way of looking at it.. why wouldn't you want to be married to a conspiracy theorist though?

originally posted by: Bleeeeep
a reply to: boncho

I don't think it would be used for that because there are already better systems.

Just look at this one for example:

And where you wanted spatial info you could and would want to just use your own cell towers and the like with a good algorithm.

In my opinion, the only useful data would be the social behavior of people (percentages of those who work together and how they work together, etc.) while performing recreational activities, but even that will be severely limited to their perception of the game and its objectives.

Thank you Bleeeep i remember watching that video a couple of years ago but could never find it again but they have cut a few bits out of it from what i remember .

i think it said the uk government had bought 50 of these and that they could cover pretty much all of the country with them

originally posted by: j.r.c.b.
Weird timing for this game to come out, I think. I'm not too sure what it's about, but I don't like the idea of it. Plus I think it's dangerous. JMO of course.......could just be a silly game?? But I think not........

It is already dangerous. Teenager killed trespassing at 1 am breaking into a neighbors house to get whatever creature.

thenochill.com...

a reply to: Nyiah

I don't know, if I would do something illegal I would prefer to use a sucker to do it for me without knowing than using a big drone that says property of indigent, deniability is something important.

a reply to: boncho
I for one think you have compiled a fascinating thread. It makes too much sense. If you want visual data from every corner of the world, what better way than to have people voluntarily grab it? Planes can only take aerial views.

Many years ago Nintendo vowed it would not get into mobile phone gaming as a means of bolstering support for its handheld systems; suddenly it reverses course? They must have had a nice offer from somewhere to do so... but they may just be a pawn taking advantage of a financial opportunity.

a reply to: boncho

WOW!! Great post! (S&F for you!)

I just learned about this "game", and it didn't take long for me to start questioning motives. Where was the first place I thought to search? Why, ATS of course!!

I guess the biggest question I have at the moment is how the pokemon locations, or 'pokestops' are chosen / created. Who is it that creates them? Can anyone create one, or only certain groups / companies?

What would stop someone from creating a pokestop on private property? Or, an inappropriate / illegal location?

I already read an article this morning about a pokestop being created in the National Holocaust Museum, and how the curators were trying to get it stopped. ...

Inappropriate Pokestop

What would stop them from creating a pokestop in your garage, in a women's restroom, at a high-risk location (robbery, murder, etc.)???

ETA...After some brief research, there seems to be much debate about how these 'pokestops' are actually created. Also, incidentally, I don't see this 'game' as some high tech mapping conspiracy as much as I see it having the potential for mass intelligence gathering about the people playing it (what they do, where they go, how long it takes people to move to certain locations, demographics...on and on).

I can definitely see some very bad ju-ju coming from this!!

Imagine for a moment if one of these 'pokestops' was created on posted private property. All of a sudden swarms of 'players' start attempting to gain access to said property. The property owner (not a game player himself/herself) sees all of these people attempting to gain access, through whatever desperate measure, to his property and mobilizes to defend his privacy (up to and possibly including the use of violence).

This would be particularly attractive if the pokemon character was deemed "rare" (in the pokemon parlance).

And further, let's say a certain group wants to know what so and so is doing on their property, so they create a pokestop there...and now they've got thousands of mindless drones working for them unknowingly gathering intelligence about said location while innocently trying to score their 'rare' pokemon icon.

Seems really risky to me!

I know I don't want any pokemon seekers showing up on my front lawn!! Do you?

All I can vouch for with this game is that Historical locals in my area are Pokestops ( one right around the corner from the house), and It looks to be Churches are the Gyms.

Walking the hiking trail gets you nothing but a dead battery, but walking the neighborhoods will have you getting pokemon every few feet.

I grew up with Pokemon, and having this game even for just the few days that it's been out has been a blast.
So many memories from growing up, and I still know most of the pokemon just from their silhouette .

a reply to: boncho

I respect your post, and I understand that there's a chance that things aren't all they same, but..I have a story about hidden meanings.

When I got my first cell phone I was assigned a number by the cell company that ended in 666. My devout Christian mother insisted I get it changed. I was raised Christian, but wasn't bothered by it. My even more devout Christian aunt and uncle said it best - sometimes a number is just a number.

...Sometimes a game is just a game. They could already collect that same data from any mapping apps, such as Apple or Google maps, Waze, tripadvisor, etc.

Great thread , v. interesting . In UK we have been warned even by msm about phone app games , how that the t&cs rarely get read , and while the apps are free , your kid agrees to the provider that they can turn on his her camera and take photos , video and audio at will , check and copy all the files including the comms . No wonder its free !
One thing is that Intel is not always ususally about the individual per se , more the networks they are part of is of interest , this may apply re the pokemon game , ie common locations/common networks/common knowledge. The other is , Kept thinking while reading this how that virtual wandering on streetview is going to be useful , but how much more so for the purposes the alphabets have , to open doors and browse round private homes and offices , with the data sync'd together for them before they get there . Get that , with audio , live , recorded or as and when , added to gps tracks and predictive programmes etc , etc , we're getting very Orwellian already .
Not that it's bothersome.
Another thing to add is this true story : I have no smartphone , dont use computers much . Someone I know has rats in the garden , says to me , "Can I borrow yr air rifle pls?" So I say , "yeah no worries" (they're responsible) . I lend it them , and tell 2 people about the rats and lending it . I don't use the computer at all for the next 4-5 days or so. So , when I do fire it up and go on gumtree , guess what it's advertising to me at the top of the page ? Air rifle pellets .
The upshot and only logical conclusion as I've never searched air rifles or pellets is : other people's smartphones are listening to my conversations with their owners , other people's smartphones know who I am even if I don't own one (voice recognition). Other people's smartphones are telling someone or something online what I might want to buy next .
It's not bothersome , I'm with Boncho on that , just pretty fascinating is what .

a reply to: stolencar18

.Sometimes a game is just a game. They could already collect that same data from any mapping apps, such as Apple or Google maps, Waze, tripadvisor, etc.

No, they can't. Read the book linked in the OP. I screen capped some relevant points, but basically the point is they reshuffled a dozen agencies and formed a new one. The plan was to develop a game like this so it could compile WAY more data than google maps or any other game on your phone could. They wanted to use this data for a variety of operations.

Now, the only tenuous link in the entire thing is that the CIA funded the corporation that built Google Maps, which went on to develop Ingress and Pokemon Go. So while it wasn't seeded directly by the NGA (the new organization built out of the dozen orgs IMINT/GEOINT sections) it is still exactly what as laid out in that plan, which was goals for the future of GEOINT. Which had an entire new agency formed just for this purpose.

Google maps is irrelevant. Its old news. That was being done back when the book was being written. We are talking about the next step.

Whether they are scraping and cataloguing this data currently, or facilitating it into their live systems, who knows, but I personally don't think they'd go through the trouble of setting up the new agency, with these stated objectives, set up the augmented reality systems with an outside company just like the recommendation was made, and then decide..."Whelp, nothing more to do here!"

No, most likely they are going to use it for every stated objective and likely some classified ones as well. It doesn't change the world you live in. Knowing this wont make your brain implode. Even if you wanted to change it you couldn't.

Im not telling you to rise up. Im not telling you to revolt. Im not even telling you to care. Im just saying be aware. That's it. If its not in full force now, it likely will be. If it's not today, it will be a few years from now.

Stated objectives - operations = objectives completed - operation systems in use = goals achieved

Take it for whatever it is. It doesn't change my life in the least. Im going to opt out. Personal choice. If you opt in, just say, 'yep, I know this but I choose to opt in.' Don't pretend it's even remotely similar to a random set of numbers on a phone. If the phone company wrote a book about how they wanted to give everyone a phone with 666 incorporated into it, to spread the 'mark of the beast' and gain convert you to satan worship, that would be the equivalent.

CV of contractor in the field of HUMINT/GEOINT and worked with NGA previously:

Project/Program Manager National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Human Intelligent program manager
Oversee 1000's employees in training on HUMINT policies and procedures to improve collection gathering operation.
Train NGA personnel and upkeep on all HUMINT tools on JWICS as CIA Wire, CIRs, Wise-ism InfoSphere Management System, and COLISEM Community On-line Intelligence system for end users and managers, RIGHTSM Requirement and Management Global HUMINT Tasking Management System, and on SIPERNET HOTR HUMINT Online Tasking Requirements.
Experienced trainer and briefer with working knowledge of various computer programs and applications M3, NSA Portal, Pathfinder, SAVANT, Widow, GIMS, RMS, DEFSMAC, Harmony and Gemini II.

Chaired NGA's position at NHCD National HUMINT Collection Directive meeting at CIA-NHRTC in planning for target exploitation.

Responsible for the coordination and staffing of National HUMINT Requirements Tasking Center (NHRTC)
Developed and managed regulatory-compliance data collection for 100 NGA HOTR users.

Wrote, edited and released HCR, AHR, TSCR, Intelligence Information Report (IIR) & TD Evaluations for analysts from multiple NGA Production & Analysis Branches, which resulted in additional Human Intelligence (HUMINT) reporting for those analysts.

Wrote, edited, validated and released new NGA Source Directed Requirements (SDR) for NGA analysts which will provide new HUMINT reporting.

Assign to a Multi Intelligent team of OSINT, SIGINTS, and MASINT, learning in-depth detail of the operation and functions those INTS.

Advised and Assist Middle East Source Analyst in Middle East Operations of collection practices.
Help NGA Middle East analyst identify and publish Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist group leader's homes and offices for IC community.

Assessed developments, trends and threat implications of terrorists groups in Israel.
Participated in multiple CIA Middle East Conference of Intelligent value.
Used HP Exstream to reduce complexity, streamline NGA intelligence processes, and increase effectiveness of their display communications.

Tiger team for computer tools for use by NGA's analysis and Identify intelligence gaps, Specify collection requirements and evaluate resulting intelligence, and Determine analytical approach,
Provided strategic direction and implemented strategic-planning process enabling "voice-of-customer" data to be translated into product/service requirements, thereby reducing planning time by 50 percent and significantly improving customer satisfaction.

Consulting Team in support of NSA Cyber operations.
Tiger Team presented a general overview and understanding of JTF-CS roles, responsibilities and tools CBRNE-CM (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosive - Consequence Management) Operations.
Liaison for peers with other intelligence agencies and embassies to discuss mutual analytical problems and production requirements.
Directly responsible for conducting intelligence analysis concerning terrorist finances, drug-trafficking operations, capabilities, vulnerabilities, courses of action and the threat they present to U.S. interests.
Provided ongoing operational process analysis, mitigated "scope creep," communicated project status, and identified and resolved operational issues and constraints.

Planning strategic collection, analysis, operations and production requirements; working closely with senior staff to identify and develop strategies for improvement in assigned intelligence and counterintelligence functional areas.
Spearheaded process-improvement projects to ensure accurate, timely data delivery, reduced production expense, and effective relationships with infield Report Officer, SSA and image analysis, resulting in:
- 95 percent improvement in product- 60 percent message reduction accuracy/reliability through improved efficiencies.
- 100 percent on-time delivery of products - 10 percent reduction in analysis to internal customers and other DoD agencies costs for production

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Additional CV - Analyst:

Additional Computer Skills:
JWICS, NGANET, SCION, SIPRNET, SECNET, HOCNET, FBINET, NIPRNET, UNet, HOTR, RIGHTMS, JIRA, GIMS, Web Fish Tools (WFT), Palanterra, FAA Domestic Events Network (DEN), Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), Consular Consolidated Database (CCD), FBI IIR Dissemination System (FIDS), FBI Investigative Data Warehouse, Automated Case Support System (ACS), Sentinel, Automated Message Handling System AMHS/M3, PATHFINDER, COLISEUM, WISE ISM, Intelink, Intellipedia, Boolean Logic, SOMM, Analyst Notebook, the Virtual Private Network (VPN), NCTC TIDE, LNI, CIAWIRE, Record Message Traffic (RMT), ECN GCOMS, QLIX, CRATE, Palantir, Cornerstone, The All Source Analysis System (ASAS), Microsoft Office (MS) applications (PowerPoint, Word, Excel, etc.), SEAS, Portico, Groove, IMAP Data, LexusNexus, Command & Control Personal Computer (C2PC), Infoworkspace (IWS), FalconView, I-Space, A-Space, PIERS, TAC, MIRC Chat, Jabber, PeopleSoft, and NGA Raster Roam.