The U.S. military turns off advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released by Senator Ron Wyden and statements provided to Reuters. The move follows reports that commercially available location data has been used to target American forces in the Middle East.
The outlets frame the decision as a response to a broader privacy and national security risk: location data collected through advertising technologies and obtained from data brokers can be linked to individuals and potentially used for surveillance or targeting. The disclosures indicate that the tracking change is applied to military devices rather than being a public-wide software update. Coverage highlights growing concern that information sold by the advertising ecosystem can reach actors capable of identifying and locating service members.
While the reporting centers on the tracker shutdown, the sources do not provide the full technical specifics of the affected systems or the extent of any confirmed targeting. Instead, they focus on the government’s assessment of the threat and the resulting operational mitigation steps.
