Prying FitBit From My Cold Dead Wrist

For many of us, attitudes about our cell phones tend to resemble Chuck Heston’s famous 2nd amendment rallying cry, “from my cold, dead hands.” Our personal devices demand our constant attention while at the same time, violate our privacy rights. Military personnel are no exception and love their phones and personal fitness devices. So why is the U.S. Pentagon talking about a ban on all personal devices for national security reasons?

In early January, The White House officially banned all cell phones use from guests and staff in the West Wing. There was no official word on why the sudden change in policy except for a brief statement, “The security and integrity of the technology systems at the White House is a top priority for the Trump administration.” that was released.

Sources close to the Trump administration claim that no one was happy about the change in policy but the decision was being discussed for several months. There is no word on whether President Trump himself will be called upon to lock up his phone during secure briefings but if the policy resembles the early days of the administration, the President’s smartphone will be openly used and unsecured as ever.

Earlier this week, US Central Command set about to review their policy on personal devices for all civilian and military personnel on U.S. military bases around the world. Popular fitness tracking platform and social network, Strava, publicly displays fitness data, time and location of its million+ users. While normally averaged together and benign, when shown in the form of a heat map, this Strava data clearly indicates activity hotspots, time of day and even perimeters of both known and unknown U.S. military bases all over the world.

When reached for comment, Strava stressed the fact that users can opt out of tracking and sharing at any time but since this is a socially-based fitness network, the tracking features are ON by default.

This clear violation of secure location data has now worked its way up to the U.S. Pentagon which is now considering a ban on their 23,000 military and civilian staff in the world’s largest office building. However, the logistical challenges of installing lockers and checkpoints to allow staff to store their personal cell phones before entering the building are not trivial according to one defense official. Other officials stated that additional screening technology would need to be in place to truly prevent cell phones from being brought in. Some of this technology actively scans for cellular, Wi-Fi and bluetooth devices while other means act as portals detecting items such as a hidden smart watch or cell phone even when turned off.

Whatever method the Pentagon decides to use, they will surely have a difficult time prying staff and visitors away from their beloved personal devices.