French Mayor Decries "Settlement" of Virtual Pokemon in His Town

[ffronw]

French Mayor Decries "Settlement" of Virtual Pokemon in His Town

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1343/1343752.gifThe mayor of a French village is demanding that Niantic remove all Pokemon from its "territory."

Bressolles is a small village of about 800 residents located northeast of Lyon, and its mayor is voicing his displeasure with Niantic, the company behind Pokemon GO. Speaking with the Associated Press [http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4b496030e0a34fbf9e296d9add54175a/french-mayor-bans-pokemon-figures-his-village-near-lyon], Mayor Fabrice Beauvois called out the "anarchical settlement" of Pokemon creatures in the village.

The mayor also sent a decree to Niantic, in which he says that looking for Pokemon puts both drivers and pedestrians at risk due to people watching their smartphones, and also that it can lead to groups forming at night. He also was upset that Niantic didn't ask for permission to settle their Pokemon in the village. "When a cafe or a restaurant owner wants to open a business in any French town, they have an obligation to request prior authorization to the mayor. The rule applies to all people wishing to set up an activity or occupy a space on a public property. So it applies to Niantic as well, even though their settlement is virtual," the mayor said.

If you think this sounds strange, just wait. It gets worse.

The Mayor went on to say that Pokemon GO is now spreading in a "contagious" way, and that is may become a "dangerous addiction." He also said that "They (meaning the Niantic developers) use the entire planet as a playground."

Niantic has not responded to the demand, or made any comment on the situation as yet. Recently, the company has already removed Pokestop from sensitive locations like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, but it remains to be seen how they'll feel about removing the Pokemon from an entire village.

It's a strange situation, especially since Pokemon don't actually exist. Maybe the mayor can ban aliens next.




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[Jadak]

I emphasize with his desire to ban the game, it's just too bad the route he takes to argue it is such complete nonsense showing a complete disregard for technology and reality.

 

[Quellist]

In other news the Mayor married a Wheel of Camembert before declaring that the earth is flat and the law of gravity was now more of a guideline than a rule

 

[omega 616]

Kind of why we need younger people in some kind of power, to be like "stop being silly, do you realise how crazy you sound right now?".

I think the younger generations suffer from the older generations, not understanding what's going on.

Spoiler: Essentially ....

 

[ffronw]

In other news the Mayor married a Wheel of Camembert before declaring that the earth is flat and the law of gravity was now more of a guideline than a rule

Seriously. I had this in my head the whole time:

 

[gigastar]

That gif. So nostalgic.

I do wonder if there's actually any legal ground to stand on when he has such sparce knowledge of the game as to think that the Pokemon live in his village.

Well knowledge of a subject isnt nessessarily required in lawsuits about it.

Also if it is part of town law then he might have grounds, though i wouldnt know if it would stand up in the French or European high courts.

 

[RJ 17]

I do wonder if there's actually any legal ground to stand on when he has such sparce knowledge of the game as to think that the Pokemon live in his village.

Well knowledge of a subject isnt nessessarily required in lawsuits about it.

In fact, in most cases the less knowledge you have the better the chances of winning the lawsuit. It's not your job to apply basic common sense to a situation, it's a company's job to tell you every possible conceivable thing that has to do with their product, otherwise you can sue the pants off of them.

For instance: if a Superman costume doesn't expressly say "Does not allow you to fly" and you jump off your roof, guess who just won the lottery!

OT: Seriously though, wouldn't flocks of people trekking to your small village be a good thing? I'm no economic expert, but generally cities being flooded by out-of-towners tends to mean a lot of fresh money rolling in.

 

[Fox12]

This may reek of

but he does have a point about driver safety and roaming groups of teenagers at night. I wouldn't be surprised if this ended up getting regulated at some point.

 

[Baresark]

I mean.... Is the game a case where it's making certain areas more dangerous than they were previously? Yes, that is undeniable. Should the town be allowed to have all the Pokemon removed from it if they want so they don't have to worry about morons walking and driving around looking for digital Pokemon? Of course they should. Is the mayor correct in saying Pokemon are "settling" in the village? No, that is dumb.

I get what he is saying, but he could have said it in a lot better way. I'm just glad it's dying down. That first couple of weeks were unbearable. Fuckin' adults wandering into the street at 10:30 at night in front of my car as I drive home.

 

[Recusant]

Geez, what the heck is happening in France? Somebody should check on those people. I suppose it's good to know that the French have their own versions of Fred Upton, but combined with banning swimwear, I'm starting to worry.

 

[D3s_ToD3s]

I thougt they filmed Hot Fuzz in Great Britain. The more you learn.

 

[SupahEwok]

This is just one of the growing pangs of the world transitioning to AR. 'Course the old folks aren't going to get it, this is beyond some of even their science fiction from the 50s and 60s. I'm glad to see that Pokemon GO is doing what I'd hope it'd do: force governments to confront the reality that is AR and start dealing with the issues that arise from its use.

 

[RJ Dalton]

the law of gravity was now more of a guideline than a rule

Well, really it is. If you can find a way around it, nobody's going to arrest you.
Just let me know when you find out how to disregard it, because there's some trick I'd like to try out.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well, he MAY just not want people running around and catching imaginary animals in his town. If that isn't what he means, then he's bonkers, though.

 

[insanelich]

I mean.... Is the game a case where it's making certain areas more dangerous than they were previously? Yes, that is undeniable. Should the town be allowed to have all the Pokemon removed from it if they want so they don't have to worry about morons walking and driving around looking for digital Pokemon? Of course they should. Is the mayor correct in saying Pokemon are "settling" in the village? No, that is dumb.

I get what he is saying, but he could have said it in a lot better way. I'm just glad it's dying down. That first couple of weeks were unbearable. Fuckin' adults wandering into the street at 10:30 at night in front of my car as I drive home.

Except the Mayor isn't the one who gets to decide if the town should be an AR-free zone or not.

The individual landowners do.

The Mayor isn't even within his rights to decide the public areas should be Pokemon-free - that's up to the citizens and ultimately the French state.

 

[insanelich]

Pokemon Go is an interesting lesson, in that it pushes the reality of digital media as being something that can carry a value and have real life consequences.
Software piracy, as an example, has always been an odd duck in what kind of value it has or how it affects the world, but that's been an (overblown) issue for companies moreso than anyone else.

This affects everyone.
I was in Athens a few weeks ago and every major spot was heavily crowded with teenagers staring at their cellphones. Even on Paros (island) you'd see groups of people playing the game, clogging up small passageways.
It was a curiosity at first, but it got old fast and became sort of a nuisance I'd prefer to avoid. I was on vacation, so games was the last thing I wanted to have on my mind.

Is the notion that his village is overrun with creatures preposterous? Yeah, and we can laugh at his ignorance on the topic, but while they don't technically exist, the behaviour that they cause in people is very much real.
Also remember that while we're all "in on it" here on this site, most people don't really know what's going on, but they can sure as shit see that it has an effect and influence.

In my opinion, any area should be able to declare themselves free of these things. Better yet, as the mayor suggests, these apps or games should have to apply for permission. Practically, you'd make a system that apps would have to synchronize with, where the different cities/villages/governments have already declared themselves as augmented reality free zones (otherwise every place would have to complain to every individual app out there that gets made from here on out, which isn't feasible).

That, or they could not do what you suggest, which is the easier and better option.

You may want to not see people playing games... in which case I recommend finding places with no people in them. The people have the right to play games, and you may want it taken away, in which case it's up to the government to decide what the correct way to do things is - which is overwhelmingly likely to be "people will complain about those damn kids and if you do anything but ignore them while refusing to take sides you've just decided to participate in this dumb, petty fight".

 

[Baresark]

I mean.... Is the game a case where it's making certain areas more dangerous than they were previously? Yes, that is undeniable. Should the town be allowed to have all the Pokemon removed from it if they want so they don't have to worry about morons walking and driving around looking for digital Pokemon? Of course they should. Is the mayor correct in saying Pokemon are "settling" in the village? No, that is dumb.

I get what he is saying, but he could have said it in a lot better way. I'm just glad it's dying down. That first couple of weeks were unbearable. Fuckin' adults wandering into the street at 10:30 at night in front of my car as I drive home.

Except the Mayor isn't the one who gets to decide if the town should be an AR-free zone or not.

The individual landowners do.

The Mayor isn't even within his rights to decide the public areas should be Pokemon-free - that's up to the citizens and ultimately the French state.

Well, no that is not entirely correct. A mayor of a town can make decisions to help make that place safer. Public land is often times under the control of public officials. Roads, parks, police stations, ect., those are public land and public officials have a duty to help keep those places and the surrounding area clean and safe. But I'm not here to get in a debate over this stupid game. I get where he is coming from, his message is poorly worded though was my point. Lets also not just assume that everyone loves this game and sees it as a net positive. I see it as a hindrance when idiots are playing that and walking in front of my car. All those videos everyone thought was so funny about traffic getting stopped, I found them offensive, the people are that self involved and are literally incapable of monitoring what is going on around them.