US Military disables ad trackers on troops’ phones

美国军方禁用士兵手机上的广告追踪器

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has pressed the Pentagon on the issue of location data for months. US military officials say they have disabled advertising trackers on a range of phones and computers, according to letters released on Friday by the US senator Ron Wyden and statements given to Reuters.

俄勒冈州民主党参议员罗恩·怀登（Ron Wyden）数月来一直就位置数据问题向五角大楼施压。据怀登参议员周五公布的信件以及向路透社发表的声明显示，美国军方官员表示，他们已经在一系列手机和电脑上禁用了广告追踪器。

The development follows reports that commercially available location data had been used to target American forces in the Middle East.

在此之前，有报道称商业化的位置数据已被用于定位在中东的美军部队。

The air force told Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. US Special Operations Command said in a separate letter that it had “recently” disabled them on its Windows devices. The army told Reuters that advertising IDs tied to mobile devices had been disabled since earlier this year.

空军告诉怀登，他们已于两个月前禁用了电脑和手机上的广告标识符。美国特种作战司令部在另一封信中表示，他们“最近”已在 Windows 设备上禁用了这些标识符。陆军则向路透社表示，与移动设备绑定的广告 ID 自今年早些时候起就已被禁用。

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.

这些披露凸显了一个日益严重的国家安全担忧：广告行业收集并由数据经纪人（即整理并转售个人数据的公司）出售的位置数据，可能被用于追踪和定位部署在战区的军事人员。

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 2024”.

空军和特种作战司令部拒绝进一步置评。陆军和海军发给怀登的类似信件称，他们已在军事设备上禁用了广告 ID，但未说明这些限制是何时实施的。陆军在一份声明中表示，Windows 电脑上的广告 ID “在 2021 年之前”就已被屏蔽，但 Android 和苹果移动设备直到“至少 2024 年 2 月”才默认禁用。

The effort to reduce the location data generated by smartphones comes as military officials weigh increasingly strict restrictions on phone use overall. In July, Reuters reported that some deployed personnel in the Middle East could be ordered to surrender their phones amid concerns that mobile videos they were posting to the internet were helping Iran target American bases in the region.

在军方官员权衡对手机使用实施更严格限制之际，减少智能手机产生的位置数据的努力也随之展开。今年 7 月，路透社报道称，由于担心部署在中东的人员发布到互联网上的手机视频会帮助伊朗定位该地区的美军基地，一些人员可能会被要求上交手机。

Wyden and Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to the Pentagon on Friday asking for an investigation into whether the military had properly countered the dangers of the location data trade. The letter included the updates from the various service branches on their efforts to disable advertising IDs on military devices.

怀登和北卡罗来纳州共和党众议员帕特·哈里根（Pat Harrigan）周五致信五角大楼，要求调查军方是否已妥善应对位置数据交易带来的危险。信中包含了各军种关于禁用军事设备上广告 ID 的最新进展。

Wyden said in a statement that it was clear that the military’s efforts “have not been effective at neutralizing this threat”. Harrigan said that US enemies “should not be able to pull out a credit card and buy information that helps them track American troops”.

怀登在声明中表示，很明显军方的努力“在消除这一威胁方面并不奏效”。哈里根则表示，美国的敌人“不应该能够掏出信用卡，购买有助于他们追踪美军的信息”。

The Pentagon said in an email it would respond to the lawmakers directly.

五角大楼在一封电子邮件中表示，将直接回复这些议员。

Mobile advertising IDs, often abbreviated MAID, are unique identifiers tied to specific devices that can be used to track a person’s activity across mobile apps and pinpoint their physical location.

移动广告 ID（通常缩写为 MAID）是绑定到特定设备的唯一标识符，可用于追踪个人在移动应用程序上的活动并精确定位其物理位置。

Zach Edwards, co-founder of the privacy ad tech company DecryptAds, said that efforts to disable MAID on military-operated devices were “definitely a positive thing”.

隐私广告技术公司 DecryptAds 的联合创始人扎克·爱德华兹（Zach Edwards）表示，在军方运营的设备上禁用 MAID 的努力“绝对是一件积极的事情”。

The restrictions “will essentially ensure their location isn’t being included in bulk data sales being done by numerous vendors”, although he cautioned that personnel might still be tracked through apps in other more complicated ways, for example by triangulating technical device details with network data or location information.

这些限制“本质上将确保他们的位置信息不会被包含在众多供应商进行的批量数据销售中”，但他提醒说，人员仍可能通过其他更复杂的方式被应用程序追踪，例如通过将设备技术细节与网络数据或位置信息进行三角定位。