The Defense Department on Monday issued an order barring all personnel from using geolocation services on their personal and government-issued devices in all “operational areas.”
The policy, which applies to smartphones, tablets, fitness trackers, smartwatches and all other applications with geolocation features, goes into effect immediately.
“The rapidly evolving market of devices, applications, and services with geolocation capabilities … presents significant risk to Department of Defense personnel both on- and off-duty, and to our military operations globally,” Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan wrote Friday in a memo to top Pentagon brass.
“These geolocation capabilities can expose personal information, locations, routines and numbers of DoD personnel,” he said, which can create “unintended security consequences and increased risk to the joint force and mission.”
Huh? To read more, click here.