US Military Disables Device Ad Trackers Following Middle East Targeting Concerns

The United States military has disabled advertising identifiers on a variety of mobile phones and computers. This action follows reports that commercially available location data was used to target American forces in the Middle East. The Air Force informed Senator Ron Wyden that it disabled these identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. U.S. Special Operations Command stated it recently disabled them on Windows devices, while the Army told Reuters that advertising IDs on mobile devices had been disabled since at least February of this year.

Mobile advertising IDs, or MAIDs, are unique identifiers that track activity across apps and can pinpoint a person's physical location. National security concerns have grown that data brokers can sell this information, allowing adversaries to track military personnel in war zones. Representative Pat Harrigan, a Republican, stated that enemies should not be able to buy information that helps them track American troops.

Senator Wyden, a Democrat, and Representative Harrigan have requested that the Pentagon investigate whether the military has properly countered the dangers of the location data trade. Wyden stated that the military's efforts have not been effective at neutralizing the threat. The Pentagon indicated it would respond to the lawmakers directly. These measures come as officials consider stricter phone restrictions, including reports that some personnel in the Middle East could be ordered to surrender their phones to prevent the targeting of bases via social media videos.