US military officials have confirmed they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers. This development was revealed through letters released on Friday by US Senator Ron Wyden and statements given to Reuters.
The action comes after reports indicated that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East. The Air Force informed Senator Wyden that it disabled advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. US Special Operations Command stated it had “recently” disabled them on its Windows devices, while the Army told Reuters that advertising IDs tied to mobile devices have been disabled since earlier this year.
Senator Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has been pressing the Pentagon on this issue for several months. He, along with Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the Pentagon on Friday requesting an investigation into whether the military has adequately addressed the dangers posed by the location data trade.
The Pentagon has stated it will respond directly to the lawmakers. Zach Edwards, co-founder of Decryptads, a privacy ad tech company, described the efforts to disable Mobile Advertising IDs (MAID) on military-operated devices as “definitely a positive thing,” noting it would help ensure their location is not included in bulk data sales.