CGN Tech Blog: Pentagon Warns Troops Are Being Targeted Through Commercial Location Data
Commercial location data is creating new risks for U.S. military personnel as lawmakers press for stronger digital privacy safeguards.
WASHINGTON | Commercial location data has become a national-security problem, not just a consumer-privacy issue.
Reuters reported Thursday that U.S. military personnel deployed in war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to a Pentagon letter shared by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. The report highlights how smartphone data collected for advertising and sold through data brokers can be used to identify patterns, track movements and potentially expose troops to surveillance or attack.
The risk comes from a familiar digital economy. Apps, phones and advertising systems can collect location signals or device identifiers. That data may then move through brokers, analytics firms or advertising platforms. In ordinary civilian life, the result can be targeted advertising. In a war zone, the same data can reveal where service members sleep, travel, gather or operate.
Lawmakers have warned that adversaries can exploit commercial data to track military personnel, including through patterns tied to bases, deployments and sensitive facilities. Reuters reported that U.S. Central Command had fielded reports of threats in which adversaries used this kind of data to surveil or target American personnel.
The issue is difficult because it is both technical and legal. The United States can restrict some government data practices, but private data markets remain broad and often opaque. A service member can follow security rules and still be exposed if a phone, app or advertising identifier leaks enough information through commercial systems.
Google defended Chrome’s security in response to lawmaker criticism, while also pointing to the need for stronger regulation of data brokers. The broader lesson is that privacy rules are now battlefield rules. Data that looks harmless in an advertising dashboard can become targeting intelligence when the person carrying the phone is deployed overseas.
Additional Reporting By: Reuters
What this means
The story matters because commercial surveillance can become military intelligence. Protecting troops now requires stronger rules for data brokers, apps, phones and advertising systems.