US Military Disables Ad Tracking on Devices

The U.S. military has disabled advertising tracking on a range of government-issued phones and computers, a move intended to protect service members from adversaries who could use commercially available location data to target them. The Department of Defense confirmed the action across its branches, including the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Special Operations Command. This measure follows reports that foreign adversaries have exploited location data, often collected by advertising companies and sold by data brokers, to track and target U.S. military personnel, particularly in the Middle East. The disabling of unique mobile advertising identifiers (MAIDs) aims to make individual service members harder to pinpoint by blending their location data with that of others whose tracking is also disabled. Senator Ron Wyden, who has been pressing the Pentagon on this issue for months, disclosed the military's actions through letters shared with him. According to statements provided to Reuters, the Air Force implemented its changes approximately two months ago, in July 2026. The U.S.