Pentagon bans fitness trackers

Baku. 7 August. REPORT.AZ/ The US military command has banned military troops from using fitness trackers in war zones. Geolocation tools used by the applications can disclose troop locations in war zones and in classified hot spots. Report informs citing the Gazeta.Ru.

US military troops and other defense personnel at sensitive bases or in certain high-risk warzone areas won't be allowed to use fitness tracker or cellphone applications that can reveal their location, according to a new order from the Pentagon.

It said the applications on personal or government-issued devices present a "significant risk" to military personnel and therefore those capabilities must be turned off in certain operational areas.

Under the new order, it will be up to military leaders to determine whether troops under their command can use the GPS function on their devices, based on the security threat in that area or on that base.