The U.S. Department of Defense has disabled advertising tracking on troops' phones and computers as part of an effort to protect them from threats that target their locations, according to a letter shared with Senator Ron Wyden. Per a letter shared with the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Wyden said that the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command have all disabled advertising tracking across their government-issued devices. The aim is to prevent adversaries, including hostile governments, from using location data derived from the apps on troops' phones to target them on the battlefield or on their bases. Location data collected from phone apps is commonly shared with third-party companies and data brokers, which then sell the information on the commercial market. Disabling the advertising ID makes the person far more difficult to identify as the location data blends in with everyone else whose advertising ID is also...
learn more
