US Military Disables Ad Trackers On Devices To Protect Troops (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0185458606
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/09/06/0553230/us-military-disables-ad-trackers-on-devices-to-protect-troops
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-military-turns-off-ad-trackers-devices-amid-middle-east-targeting-reports-2026-09-04
> Reuters reports that [2]the US Military is disabling ad tracking on devices, to prevent adversaries from buying publicly-available tracking data to assist in targeting troops. Military officials say that they have disabled trackers on a variety of computers and mobile devices, according to [3]letters released on Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden, and following [4]reports that commercially-available tracking data has been used to target troops in the Middle East....
>
> Wyden said in a statement that it was clear that the military's efforts "have not been effective at neutralizing this threat." U.S. Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, said that U.S. enemies "should not be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track American troops." Rep. Harrigan remains silent as to the larger question of whether the general public should be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track anyone they please.
"The Pentagon said in an email it would respond to the lawmakers directly," [5]Reuters reports :
> The Army said in a statement that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers "since before 2021" but that Android and Apple mobile devices had only had it disabled by default "since at least February 2026...." The effort to reduce the location data generated by smartphones comes as military officials weigh increasingly strict restrictions on phone use overall. In July, Reuters reported that some deployed personnel in the Middle East [6]could be ordered to surrender their phones amid concerns that mobile videos they were posting to the internet were helping Iran target American bases in the region.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~DeanonymizedCoward
[2] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-military-turns-off-ad-trackers-devices-amid-middle-east-targeting-reports-2026-09-04
[3] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28599033-wyden-harrigan-letter-dod-oig-location-data/
[4] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/pentagon-says-us-military-personnel-are-reportedly-being-targeted-using-location-2026-05-28/
[5] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-military-turns-off-ad-trackers-devices-amid-middle-east-targeting-reports-2026-09-04
[6] https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-commander-warns-troops-their-videos-help-iran-sources-say-2026-07-29/
Mandate turning off the location option (Score:2)
Maybe the DoD needs an app that disables the location option when on a military installation.
Offtopic (Score:2)
Why is Slashdot such a piece of shit? In the world of social media, the Slashdot input field totally sucks because you cannot use certain normal characters and punctuation. And you cannot like or dislike a post. What a relic.
Re: (Score:2)
It operates without scripting. Which means no tracking scripts. I'm more than happy for that trade.
Show me any social media site that can offer better. Makes Slashdot the most cutting edge, IMHO. :-)
Re: Offtopic (Score:2)
How do you add an apostrophe
Re: (Score:1)
Press the ' key on the keyboard
Re: (Score:2)
I think some folks are posting from things that have "smart quotes" turned on, and either don't want to, or don't know how to turn it off. Or they just don't care.
Too many leaks, too few fingers (Score:2)
"According to cybersecurity experts, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), one of the most effective ways to mitigate data broker threats is to disable the unique advertising IDs built into smartphones. "
So all they are doing is turning off advertising IDs in the OS? ...eh..... hmm.....
"Another possibility is that disabling the advertising ID is no longer a sufficient defense on its own, as data brokers can still capture, correlate, and
how sad can you get? american sad (Score:1)
what a joke that they don't have their own devices and are using this plagued bullshit
Tracking data ... (Score:2)
... should not be available for sale. Or anything else.
There should be laws against collecting this in the first place. And don't expect the DoW to provide a list of personnel not to be tracked. That, and a list of people with security clearances is as valuable as the tracking data itself.
Google and other executives will have to think carefully about the black vans that will pull up to their homes. And the resulting flight to someplace like Guantanamo Bay.
Operation Blue Balls (Score:2)
> ...some deployed personnel in the Middle East could be ordered to surrender their phones amid concerns...
Oh great, just when the troops are finally clean shaven and testosterone'd up, now they can't use their hookup apps.
What about the rest of us (Score:3)
So they acknowledge ad tracking is dangerous. So how about disabling it everywhere?
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, not hard at all, Just make a general ban on user tracking.
Problem solved for not just end users but also traditional media as well. Puts all businesses back on a level footing.
Bonus, also takes away the driving force behind user engagement and the resulting abuses.
Re: What about the rest of us (Score:2)
Anyone here not figure Iran was targeting soldiers using cell phones?
And of course he goal of all the slop we put on our phones is to put trackers on. A hundred data brokers are pinging our every move.
And it wonâ(TM)t stop. Capitalism will truly sell you the rope to hang it with.
Very appropriate for the USA to lose a war this way. Itâ(TM)s pathetic and stupid.
Re: (Score:2)
That was my first thought. It's a big step towards pointing out how invasive it is.
Re: (Score:2)
Because they want to use it too.
Re: (Score:2)
Quod licet Iovi non licet bovi.