Pentagon Says US Military Personnel Targeted Using Commercial Location Data (msn.com) 29
U.S. forces deployed to war zones "have been targeted using commercially available location data," reports Reuters, citing "reports fielded by military officials."
Reuters calls it "an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield." In a letter shared with Reuters by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, U.S. Central Command said it had "received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater." The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, but Centcom's area of responsibility includes the Gulf, where U.S. forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.
The disclosure was the first official confirmation that U.S. forces had been targeted in an active war zone, Wyden and a bipartisan group of legislators said in a letter sent on Thursday to the Pentagon. "Commercial location data can be used to identify where U.S. troops congregate and their pattern of life, which can be exploited by adversaries to target attacks such as missiles, drones, and roadside bombs, as well as for counterintelligence purposes," the letter warned.
Wyden said in a statement that it was time to "start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat."
"The letter from U.S. lawmakers to the Pentagon said that, given what military officials know about the trade in location data, they should have acted faster to protect their personnel," the artiles adds, "for example by disabling the unique advertising ID attached to military-issued devices, automatically turning off location sharing on smartphones in the field, and steering staff away from Google's Chrome web browser toward more privacy-focused alternatives."
Thanks to Slashdot reader JoeyRox for sharing the article.
Reuters calls it "an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield." In a letter shared with Reuters by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, U.S. Central Command said it had "received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater." The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, but Centcom's area of responsibility includes the Gulf, where U.S. forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.
The disclosure was the first official confirmation that U.S. forces had been targeted in an active war zone, Wyden and a bipartisan group of legislators said in a letter sent on Thursday to the Pentagon. "Commercial location data can be used to identify where U.S. troops congregate and their pattern of life, which can be exploited by adversaries to target attacks such as missiles, drones, and roadside bombs, as well as for counterintelligence purposes," the letter warned.
Wyden said in a statement that it was time to "start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat."
"The letter from U.S. lawmakers to the Pentagon said that, given what military officials know about the trade in location data, they should have acted faster to protect their personnel," the artiles adds, "for example by disabling the unique advertising ID attached to military-issued devices, automatically turning off location sharing on smartphones in the field, and steering staff away from Google's Chrome web browser toward more privacy-focused alternatives."
Thanks to Slashdot reader JoeyRox for sharing the article.
"Loose Lips Sink Ships" (Score:4, Insightful)
Lessons once learned and now forgotten must be re-learned in the modern age.
Re: "Loose Lips Sink Ships" (Score:2)
Congress wouldnâ(TM)t pass legislation ensuring troops could repair their own equipment in theater, what makes you think that they will take action on this given the amount of money at stake?
Congress, civilian providers, not required (Score:2)
We've learned this in Ukraine ... (Score:2)
Lessons once learned and now forgotten must be re-learned in the modern age.
We learned the modern tech version of this in Ukraine a few years ago. We've had many stories in recent years about soldiers targeted due to their civilian tech.
Congress fails again and blames others (Score:5, Insightful)
Congress blames the military for not trying pitiful work-arounds like using "privacy-focused alternatives" to Google's Chrome because they failed to solve the problem at the root like other countries have and pass privacy legislation. Nice attempt at misdirection, guys. How about protecting Americans from mass surveillance and tracking by doing your job instead of big business's bidding?
Re: (Score:2)
This. Society doesn't need commercial location tracking firms (e.g., that track the general population). Ban them and require due privacy protections for digital products that use location data.
Re: Congress fails again and blames others (Score:2)
The government wants this, as its a great way to sidestep that pesky constitution and engage in warrantless mass surveillance.
Re: (Score:2)
Well as a citizen of a 5-eyes country that may well be so. But why are government employees using civilian technology?
Tinfoil hat time, I am considering a Moto GrapheneOS capable phone when they become available. Funny world if I would trust a Chinese company (Lenovo) to scrub any Google-isms from my device. :)
Polygon agencies worldwide may consider building their own ROMs or contributing to such existing FOSS projects. And what a perfect cover to be a spy and mainstream GrapheneOS under the cover of "you d
Re: (Score:2)
your service provider knows exactly where you are, its how they provide your service.
Sure, but the problem here is that they know exactly where I was, which is not required to provide service.
Re: Congress fails again and blames others (Score:2)
That wonâ(TM)t hide your location and behavior from the telecom co. How many supposedly safe VPN providers do you think 5 eyes agencies have infiltrated or funded?
Re: Congress fails again and blames others (Score:2)
Because, believe it or not "civilian technology" is usually cheaper snd better.
Re:Congress fails again and blames others (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Congress fails again and blames others (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
The military can't spend $1B until Congress writes the check. They've been writing a blank one, each year, since before your dad was born. They've been accepting "Well, whatever" as the answer to "Where's the money going?" for that same amount of time. They've been telling you, as a citizen, that you can't question the money they're sending. They are also the ones who collect that money. Congress, not the military.
Easy to fix! (Score:2)
Pentagon would block half of the pacific (Score:2)
Flock (Score:3)
So which is it, does the government love Flock data or hate it? I've lost track at this point.
Re: (Score:2)
Your mistake is thinking of "the government" as a unitary entity. Different parts of it want different things.
Re: (Score:2)
The military hates it because it lets them spy on their people.
The Congress loves it because it lets them spy on their people.
The timeline is of note. (Score:2)
I guess turnabout is fair game (Score:2)
This is probably the same location data that the US government buys to track people. I would say this problem should make it obvious how problematic collecting this data is in the first place, but I think the ones responsible are not smart enough to understand this nice demonstration.
The Art of the Deal (Score:2)
It has just been announced that el Bunko has done a deal with Palantir and other data brokers to buy DoD U.S. personnel in theater data for suggested retail price of $19.99/Mo per person. In an ancillary development, these brokers will contribute to el Bunko's Arch de Stupid and the Golden Ballroom to the Stars.
Yeah, I'm joking, but I had to tell you that, didn't I.
The level of tracking is scary (Score:2)
The argument that data collection is protected free speech is a weak argument. First, just because it is collected and available for purchase should not mean the government can use it without a warrant. Second, massive data collection and integration was not even a concept when the Bill of Rights was written.
The thing about privacy (Score:2)
what? (Score:2)
> the unique advertising ID attached to military-issued devices
How is that a thing?
Hey Warrior! Get yourself some Brawndo! Use WarDash now!
Re: (Score:2)
There's no such thing as a US Army smartphone. They use Samsung Galaxies and iPhones. Those have IMEIs, MAC addresses, IMSIs, MSISDNs, Android Identifiers, and Google Advertising IDs, just like any other phone.