#154: Augmented Reality and Poképolicy

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2017

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Pokémon Go launched last summer, 40 million people were playing the game within weeks. The game provided entertainment, an excuse for kids to get off their asses, and a slew of funny — and not-so-funny — accidents involving pedestrians and drivers playing the game in the wrong place and time. This phenomenon was also the first time many Americans had ever heard of or experienced “augmented reality,” where artificial elements (like Pokémon) are superimposed onto our physical surroundings. The game’s rapid rise caused the predictable backlash over health and public safety and kneejerk calls for regulation. But getting beyond traffic safety, what are the short- and long-term policy implications of augmented reality? What does it mean for privacy, data security, surveillance, and intellectual property? Anne Hobson, Tech Policy Fellow at R Street joins the show. For more, see her report.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast. I'm Evan Swartstraber. On today's show, augmented and virtual reality. Let's start with augmented. Most people who aren't tech policy nerds probably had never heard of that. But of course, when Pokemon Go hit smartphones all across the world and got about 40 million people to download it
0:21.9	in its initial couple of weeks, augmented reality became a household term, at least for that time.
0:27.3	And while many see Pokemon Go as a passing fad, the app still has 20 million users, and it really
0:32.9	did introduce a lot of people, especially Americans, to the world of augmented reality.
0:38.6	What are the policy implications, though?
0:40.7	And will this emerging technology lead to discussions of how to regulate it?
0:45.5	Joining me to discuss this is Anne Hobson, Tech Policy Fellow at the R Street Institute.
0:49.9	She previously appeared on the show to talk about bots and ticket scalping.
0:53.9	And thanks for joining the show again.
0:55.4	Thank you, Evan.
0:56.2	So, Pokemon Go, as I mentioned, still has 20 million users, and it really did kick off a discussion
1:03.0	about augmented reality.
1:04.9	But for people unfamiliar with the app, what is augmented reality?
1:09.2	So augmented reality superimposes artificial elements such as
1:12.9	Pokemon and Pokemon Go onto physical surroundings. So essentially when people open the app, it's like a
1:18.7	map that they might see in an app like Google Maps, but then they're also seeing a little person
1:23.1	that kind of represents them and they're seeing, you know, Pokemon scattered about.
1:28.5	And then when they get really close to them, they can actually see the Pikachu standing
1:32.1	in front of the house or the store or whatever Pocostop, so to speak, they're at.
1:37.4	Exactly.
1:37.9	You hold up your phone and you get information that wouldn't necessarily be there in the physical
1:42.5	scene.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TechFreedom, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TechFreedom and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.