The phenomenon that is Pokémon Go definitely doesn't look like it's going away any time soon, but that doesn't mean everyone's happy about it.

For filmmaker Oliver Stone, the man behind Scarface, Platoon and Nixon, the widespread popularity of the app is just a "new level of invasion" into our privacy and our lives in the pursuit of profit.

"It's not really funny," Stone told the crowds during the Snowden panel at last night's (21 July) Comic-Con. "Their search for profits is enormous here, enormous.

"Nobody has ever seen in the history of the world [a company like] Google. It's the biggest new fastest growing business ever and they have invested a huge amount of money into what surveillance is — it's data mining.

"They're data mining every single person in this room for information as to what you're buying, what you like and above all your behaviour. So Pokémon Go kicks into that."

The app may have been the catalyst for such a debate, but it turns out Stone's wariness of technology and apps goes far beyond simply catching 'em all.

"This is everywhere," he added. "It's what some people call surveillance capitalism.

"It's not for profit at the beginning but it becomes for profit at the end, because it creates its own awareness and it gets to us everywhere in the world, until it manipulates our behavior and we start to act like that.

"It has happened a bit already out there on the internet but you'll see a new form – frankly, a robot society where they all know how you want to behave.

"It's what they call totalitarianism."

Venturelli/Getty Images

Since its release, Pokémon Go has been criticised for posing a security threat to players, with some users claiming it can read your emails and even send them for you.

The claims have been denied by the app's creators Niantic Labs, saying: "Pokémon Go only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address).

"Google has verified that no other information has been received or accessed by Pokémon Go or Niantic."

Stone was at Comic-Con to promote his new film Snowden, a biopic about US whistleblower Edward Snowden starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley and Zachary Quinto, and we suddenly can't think of anyone better to direct the film.

Snowden will be released in US cinemas on September 16. A UK release is yet to be set.

Megan Davies Megan Davies is a freelance sub-editor and news writer at Digital Spy, and is a lover of good TV, good coffee and any story with a solid twist.

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