U.S. military officials have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden’s statements given to Reuters. This development follows reports that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East. The Air Force told Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. U.S. Special Operations Command said it had "recently" disabled them on its Windows devices. US Special Operations Command also said it had recently disabled the identifiers on its Windows devices.
The measures affect devices used by several branches of the US military, including the Army, Air Force and US Special Operations Command.
The issue centres on mobile advertising IDs, known as MAIDs. These identifiers allow advertisers and data companies to distinguish one device from another and can be used alongside location information collected by apps.
According to TechCrunch, US officials are concerned such commercially available data could provide sensitive information about military personnel movements. The concern is that data brokers collect location information and sell or share it with other companies. If such data reaches hostile governments or other actors, it could potentially be used to identify the location of US personnel.
Reuters reported that the latest military measures follow concerns that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East.
