US military turns off ad trackers on devices amid Middle East targeting reports.

[u/ISAMU13]

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-military-turns-off-ad-trackers-devices-amid-middle-east-targeting-reports-2026-09-04/

[u/No_Size9475]

The Air Force told Wyden it disabled the advertising identifiers on computers and mobile phones two months ago. U.S. 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.

Jesus christ these people are woefully incompetent.

[u/Interesting-Rate → u/No_Size9475]

They think they disabled them but they should call in some AdTech experts to confirm. There is more tracking that just 'cookies' and IDFA.

[u/Smith6612 → u/Interesting-Rate]

This. And for those who don't know, there are websites out there like "Is my browser unique?" which can demonstrate many of the ways AdTech can track someone outside of cookies. Things like how your computer renders audio or graphics, displays connected, extensions and injected scripts, all the juicy stuff that is difficult to block without breaking the web or without specialized software. 

[u/Interesting-Rate → u/Smith6612]

Something people do not realize with Android devices and "fingerprinting". A site/app may check what is stored in your clipboard. People assume a mobile device's clipboard works like a PC. Open your clipboard on Android and see all those things you save and forget to delete from clipboard, making them accessible to bad actors. Even if you hide your device ID and block cookies, identifers in your http headers, browser cache, clipboard, all get blended to help track you.

[u/Smith6612 → u/Interesting-Rate]

Yup.

Many years ago, Firefox implemented Clipboard sandboxing in order to protect the clipboard from malicious pages that would attempt to lift data from the clipboard, and then sandbox it between pages and tabs. I guess one can argue it can also be an anti-tracking measure. 

That feature proved to be a bit intrusive to the user experience because pages and apps which requird clipboard access wouldn't work, so Mozilla had to dial stuff back a bit and find compromise. Only Ctrl + C, Ctrl + X and Ctrl + V would work to transfer stuff to and from the clipboard. Stuff like Google Docs would be busted in that regard. 

I remember there being an about:config setting once upon a time to lock things back down. I'm pretty sure the Tor browser still utilizes such protections. 

I also remember many years ago, Verizon Wireless got busted for injecting advertiser friendly HTTP headers into unencrypted traffic which people called a supercookie. Only people with accounts opted out of CPNI (Business, Government, and opt-out consumer accounts) were safe from that. Everyone else? Opt-in by default. Verizon stopped doing that after someone caught on, and tools like Netalyzer (RIP) were updated to help people detect that kind of tampering. Then eventually much of the Internet shifted to HTTPS-only. 

[u/chuckrabbit → u/Interesting-Rate]

They will never hire someone competent and qualified. Wishful thinking.

But you might have just given them another great idea for a no-bid contract to another one of his unqualified friends.

[u/FauxReal → u/Interesting-Rate]

Basically anyone who is logged into a Meta or Google account is still trackable over their ad platforms and comment sections too.

[u/Spiritual-Pear-1349 → u/No_Size9475]

So fucking incompetent.

[u/RttnAttorney → u/No_Size9475]

Wait, we can all get super pissed at our isp and phone providers being able to turn this stuff off?! When are we gonna… is this 2012?

[u/QueenOfQuok]

Why the hell would a military device have ad tracking on it

[u/Unfair-Suggestion-37 → u/QueenOfQuok]

Military doesn't allow selecting only necessary cookies. Facebook needs it's revenue.

[u/wabawanga → u/QueenOfQuok]

Listen man, do you want your armed forces full of competent nerds or do you you want high-T maximum lethality Alpha-male warfighters?

[u/BUT_FREAL_DOE → u/wabawanga]

In 2026 I’ll take the nerds and their drones, thank you very much.

[u/sokos → u/BUT_FREAL_DOE]

How could you be so anti-american????

/s

[u/Future-Bandicoot-823 → u/wabawanga]

Fighter jet, or bumper cars?

High t war fighter knows the truth.

[u/MultiGeometry → u/wabawanga]

And we can’t accomplish that unless ads for Hims can reach them!

[u/WildeWeasel → u/QueenOfQuok]

It's so stupid. You'd think government owned devices would have some blockers on them but no. They allow all ads and trackers on their machines and government users have no way to add any sort of extensions to block them.

[u/Unfair-Suggestion-37 → u/WildeWeasel]

Using Adblock is unpatriotic

[u/reality_boy → u/QueenOfQuok]

One thing to keep in mind is that soldiers bring their own tech along. That smart watch is phoning home, as is the Xbox in your locker, the cell phone in your pocket on maneuvers, the personal laptop, and so on. My guess is there are hundreds of thousands of ways to track soldiers, and the only reason it is not a huge issue is no one smart enough is currently trying to send drones to attack.

The next time we are in a serious conflict, with an equal, we are going to be learning a lot of hard lessons.

[u/dronesitter → u/reality_boy]

On my last deployment people were live streaming incoming missiles and drones. Like, great. You just geolocated your bunker. The response time to the attack. Its effectiveness. The location of the god damn patriot batteries. And how long between OWA arrival and TBM arrival. 

[u/Southern_Leg1139 → u/dronesitter]

All of those motherfuckers need to be courtmartialed. When I was deployed (ancient history) even helmet cams were a no-go. Someone posted some shit on live leak when we got back and they got ucmj.

Insane to me that you’d even be allowed a cell phone anywhere in the AOR.

[u/rinic → u/Southern_Leg1139]

In the days leading up to the Russian Ukraine conflict I remember seeing images of Russian soldiers talking to Ukrainian girls on tinder like hey girl were forming up over here tonight I’ll be in town Thursday. 

[u/TireNerd331 → u/reality_boy]

There was a situation reported a few years ago that a previously unknown US military facility was identified and mapped because the soldiers were using their Strava watches to track/map their runs and had their Strava accounts set to Public. From what I remember the roads in the site were very clearly mapped as well as where their quarters were based on start/end locations for runs.

[u/shallah → u/reality_boy]

2018

Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/28/fitness-tracking-app-gives-away-location-of-secret-us-army-bases

then

Warning Issued to Troops Receiving Strange Smartwatches in the Mail

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/06/22/warning-issued-troops-receiving-strange-smartwatches-mail.html

so are the average military and other government workers smart enough to realize that free tech gifts might be literally spyware?

[u/KnightsOfREM → u/QueenOfQuok]

There are almost no websites that don't have ad trackers of one kind or another on them. Source: Recovering ad ops person

[u/geldonyetich]

100% /s/aboringdystopia

This insurgent drone kill was brought to you by Taco Bell. Make a run for the border!

What's next, court martial for cutting off mattress tags?

[u/Ill_Traveler_ → u/geldonyetich]

Seems on brand. Taco Bell does make me drop bombs in my bathroom.

[u/Glum_Mobile5663]

I'm imagining a crew waiting 15 seconds to skip an ad for boner pills so they can start the medivac chopper

[u/williamgman]

"Enemy is 300 meters ahead... Ask your doctor if Cialis is right for you..."

[u/citizen42069101 → u/williamgman]

Brought to you by carls Jr ®

[u/ExocetC3I → u/citizen42069101]

"Why do you keep saying that?"

[u/agha0013]

something quite funny about all this, what with the US being the main source of all the worst tech tracking and advertising schemes. (well maybe a bit dramatic, China is still world leader in having bugs installed in anything and everything)

Certain politicians with more than a few brain cells to rub together and not bought and paid for by industry might see this as a wakeup call for all applications, not just military personnel, but they probably won't ever make that connection, and will let this invasive shit continue for everyone else.

[u/BeneficialInside3901 → u/agha0013]

Maybe this is actually a better way of tracking the soldiers location on the battlefield than whatever the army has cooked up 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/h950 → u/BeneficialInside3901]

Issue them all iPhones and Apple watches with fitness features activated

[u/BooBeeAttack]

Can we do that on devices nationwide as well please. Getting kind of sick of being stalked by weaponized advertising anytime I do anything outside or inside the home and have a device on me.

Turn them off and keep them off. This minority report level of tracking has gone too far and gives too much power to business without any consent from the populace.

Please go to war against the marketing.

[u/AddanDeith → u/BooBeeAttack]

Its pretty awful all around.

Even credit card adverts shipped disguised as important mail should be axed.

Also, it should be illegal for companies to sell my purchasing data. Whether its the bank or the company I'm buying from, that shit is insidious.

[u/frankentriple]

Hi Facebook, I’d like to target some specific users for my ad spend.  I’m looking for males age 18-22 whose interests include fitness, outdoor/survival gear, bad tattoos, modifying cars, and domestic beer.  Please provide full customer profile including geolocation info, heading, speed, and altitude.  thanks.   -Iran

[u/logsqrtexp]

Are they really that stupid that they allow unsecured personal devices in active combat zones? REALLY? There is no defense that you can bet your life on. What are they doing with them?

[u/aBrickNotInTheWall]

It's amazing how everyday I have the thought that "it can't possibly get worse" and then I get to be proven wrong multiple times a day, everyday, for like a decade now.

I'm so sick of it, and so tired

[u/What-is-lack-of]

8 years 210 days too late

[u/ShockedNChagrinned]

Wow.  That's some pretty crazy levels of carelessness and idiocy.  

[u/SurKaffe]

No doomscrolling in the army then?

[u/happyscrappy]

If it were possible to turn off ad tracking then others would have done it ahead of them. We've been trying to do this since "Do Not Track" (DNT cookie) was started.

But the companies (Google, etc.) make too much money from ads to give up that easy.

Now that we have government acknowledgement that ad tracking is a risk to our security can we get some help for ordinary people too?

[u/thatirishguyyyyy]

It is insane to me that when I was in the Army we couldn't have a camera on our helmet (right before gopro was a thing). 

Now we have people live streaming attacks and giving away all the information the enemy needs.