From the Liveblog of
Friday, September 4, 2026
Ad tracking disabled on devices of US Mideast forces after reports location data used to target them
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US military officials say they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released today by US Senator Ron Wyden and statements given to Reuters, a development that 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.
US Special Operations Command says in a separate letter that it had “recently” disabled them on its Windows devices. The Army tells Reuters that advertising IDs tied to mobile devices had been disabled since earlier this year.
Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has pressed the Pentagon on the issue for months.
The disclosures highlight a growing national security concern: that location data collected by the advertising industry and sold by data brokers — companies that collate and resell personal data — can be used to track and target military personnel deployed to war zones.
The Air Force and Special Operations Command declined further comment. Similar letters from the Army and Navy to Wyden said they disabled advertising IDs on military devices but gave no indication of when the restrictions were imposed. The Army said in a statement that advertising IDs had been blocked on Windows computers “since before 2021” but that Android and Apple mobile devices had only had it disabled by default “since at least February 2026.”
Messages seeking comment from the Navy went unreturned.
The Times of Israel Community.