US Military: Data Brokers Used to Target American Troops in War Zones
Lawmakers say the Pentagon has known for over a decade that data brokers can expose troop movements and patterns of life.
- U.S. Central Command confirmed to lawmakers it received threat reports that adversaries are exploiting commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. forces in active war zones, marking the first official admission of such battlefield vulnerability.
- Senator Ron Wyden and a bipartisan group of legislators prompted the disclosure in a letter sent last Thursday to the Pentagon, urging officials to start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat.
- Representative Pat Harrigan, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer, warned that browsers like Chrome "are built from the ground up to collect and share user data," effectively handing adversaries a weapon against troops.
- Alphabet's Google defended its browser, stating Chrome has "industry-leading security" and that the company has "long advocated for stronger rules and safeguards against data brokers" amid the ongoing debate.
- While journalists recently used billions of coordinates to expose movements around 11 U.S. military and intelligence sites in Germany, the threat dates back to 2016, when a contractor tracked special operations forces in Syria.
64 Articles
64 Articles
Is Big Tech Creating a National Security Crisis? Pentagon Says U.S. Troops Were Targeted Using Ad Data
The post Is Big Tech Creating a National Security Crisis? Pentagon Says U.S. Troops Were Targeted Using Ad Data appeared first on 24/7 Wall St.. Quick Read Alphabet (GOOG) generated $295B in 2025 ad revenue (74% of total company revenue), while Meta (META) earned $196B from ads (97% of revenue), but Walmart (WMT) and Netflix (NFLX) are proving advertising can be layered onto any platform with Walmart’s ad business growing 31% year-over-year an…
From Pentagon Concerns to Street-Level Phone Theft: Digital Tracking Is Everyone's Problem Now
From ad-tech surveillance targeting US troops to stolen iPhones and AI-assisted cyberattacks, this week's security news showed how deeply digital tracking now affects everyone.
‘Five-alarm fire’: Lawmakers say Pentagon must act after smartphone data used to target U.S. troops
The ability of adversaries to use commercial location data from smartphones to find and target U.S. troops in the Middle East is a "five-alarm fire" that demands immediate action, a group of bipartisan lawmakers said Thursday.
Roanoke Times
Location data used to track troops
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces deployed to war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to reports fielded by military officials, an illustration of how the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 49% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
