The U.S. Department of Defense has switched off advertising tracking on military-issued phones and computers, an effort to shield service members from threats that pinpoint their locations. The move was outlined in a letter shared with Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
According to that letter, the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command have all disabled advertising tracking across their government-issued devices. That coverage extends to iPhone and Android handsets as well as Windows computers managed on the federal military enterprise network.
Why the Military Turned Off Ad Tracking
The goal is to stop adversaries, including hostile governments, from using location signals generated by apps on troops’ phones to target them on the battlefield or on bases. App-based location data is routinely passed to third-party firms and data brokers, which then resell it on the open commercial market.
Disabling the advertising ID makes an individual much harder to isolate, since their location data mixes in with everyone else who has also turned the identifier off. The protections rolled out earlier this year, with the Air Force telling Wyden it implemented its changes more recently, in July.
How the Threat Came to Light
Wyden flagged the problem earlier this year in a letter to military leaders after learning that unnamed foreign adversaries had targeted U.S. troops in the Middle East using commercially obtained location information. A longtime privacy advocate on Capitol Hill, Wyden called the reduction in advertising tracking commendable but cautioned that personal devices belonging to troops and contractors brought onto bases could still expose service members and facilities to attacks.
Government Still Buys the Same Data
While the government has acknowledged the risk this data poses to troops, the U.S. intelligence community and the FBI have confirmed they purchase the same type of commercial location data for surveillance and intelligence collection without a warrant.
Source
Image: techcrunch.com
