The U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged that adversaries are using commercial location data to target and monitor military personnel serving in the battlefield. This is the latest demonstration of how information collected from phones and computers can be misused to track and target individuals.
In a letter shared with TechCrunch by Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Central Command said it is aware of hostile activity using purchased location data to track U.S. military personnel.
“USCENTCOM has received multiple threat reports of adversaries exploiting commercial location data to target or monitor U.S. military personnel in theater,” the letter said.
The letter did not provide any specific examples or specifics, and a Pentagon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters first reported the news on Thursday.
Location data is often collected from mobile phones and computers through online advertisements, which are then purchased by data brokers who then sell the data on the open market. Governments and militaries, including the United States, have purchased this data without obtaining a warrant in the past. In recent years, the FBI has warned consumers to use ad blockers as a way to minimize the amount of data that apps, websites, and other software can collect.
Wyden told Reuters it was time to “start treating the ad tech industry as a national security threat.”
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