The Pentagon forces military personnel to turn off GPS on its smartphones to stop revealing secret bases

Last Friday, an order went into effect, banning the use of location services on both personal and government issued devices used by service members of the US military. This includes smartphones, smart watches and other devices with GPS capabilities. The ban is valid within all “operational areas” of the United States Armed Forces.

The new measure is most likely caused after a heatmap, generated by the activity of users of the fitness app Strava, revealed the locations of US military bases in foreign countries. Within the US, the colorful web of lines was mostly just an interesting way ...