Volkswagen has informed around 70,000 of its employees that they are amplifying the risk of corporate espionage by playing their silly little augmented reality Pokémon games.
According to the German site Bild (via CarScoops), Volkswagen sent out an email to approximately 70,000 of its employees informing them that they are not allowed to have Pokémon Go installed on their phones. You can check out the email (in German) over on their site.
This isn’t just Volkswagen being a Debbie Downer on fun at the workplace—that’s just an on-brand side effect. No, the German automaker is worried that workers playing with the app will be more susceptible to corporate espionage. Iran has also banned Pokémon Go for similar reasons.
The worries come from the Pokémon Go app using location tagging, data sharing and of course the cameras of the employees’ phones, which could make it more likely that we’ll get a sneak peek of something Volkswagen doesn’t want exposed yet in a screenshot of a Pikachu sitting on the next Golf platform.
Volkswagen, as a rule, does not play games. They just occasionally play the regulatory system.