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Niantic faces a class action lawsuit for encouraging trespassing on private property:
When Niantic released Pokemon Go, it randomly placed Pokémon, Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms all over the world. Players of the game wander the real world and use smartphones to capture Pokemon, buy items and fight Pokemon Gym leaders.
"To create that immersive world, Niantic made unauthorized use of Plaintiff's and other Class members' property by placing Pokéstops and Pokémon gyms thereupon or nearby," said Jennifer Pafiti in the lawsuit. "In so doing, Niantic has encouraged Pokémon Go's millions of players to make unwanted incursions onto the properties of plaintiff, and other members of the class, a clear and ongoing invasion of their use and enjoyment of their land from which defendants have profited and continue to profit."
Due to the randomized placement of the Pokémon, Pokéstops and Pokémon Gyms, they have turned up in some unwanted locations such as in houses, cemeteries and museums. According to Jeffrey Marder, a man living in New Jersey, he received at least five unwelcome visitors that wanted access to his backyard to catch Pokémon within the first week of the game's launch.
"Plaintiff and other Class members have all suffered and will continue to suffer harm and damages as a result of Defendants' unlawful and wrongful conduct. A class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of this controversy," said Pafiti.
(Score: 2) by SecurityGuy on Wednesday August 03 2016, @07:25PM
You answered your own question: "the readers generally do not invite themselves into people's private gardens and living rooms to find out."
If I go home and find one random person wandering in my backyard, I'm not going to think it's anyone's fault but that one random person. If someone creates a game and that kicks off a stream of random people coming to wander your backyard, and there's nothing you can do to stop it short of kicking each one out individually, until the game dies out, then I'd definitely think you'd have legitimate grounds to ask (or make, legally) that company stop. The alternative seems much like the argument children use. "Hey, I'm just swinging my arm. Not my fault your face is in the way!"
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday August 03 2016, @10:18PM
Except that there is no magical force that makes people play this game or trespass on random property. That's not a childish argument; that's the long-lost concept of personal responsibility that very few people seem to care about.