Geo-tags can show enemies your location - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Geo-tags can show enemies your location

The Army is warning troops to be careful when using Facebook and other popular social networking sites because their geo-tagging features may show where U.S. forces are located in war zones.

In a 20-slide presentation posted on various Army websites in recent weeks, the Army said that “exposing specific geographic location could be disastrous to Army operations.” The presentation was created by the Army Social Media Division and distributed to alert public affairs officials around the service.

The applications highlighted in the slides include Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare and Gowalla, which can show a person’s location.

“What we’re looking at is a social media environment that has grown incredibly quickly, incredibly rapidly, with new applications ... based purely on your geographical location; it’s dangerous,” said Staff Sgt. Dale Sweetnam, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Army Social Media Division. “Physical location of units in combat is not something you want to broadcast to the entire world. There are enemies that are tracking this.”

The main concern is that enemies can use geo-location services to track troops in the war zone. The Army warns these features could also be used to determine potential targets by exposing where troops live and work, and establishing their habits. Deployed soldiers, and soldiers in classified areas and in training, are cautioned not to enable location-based social networking, which could “bring the enemy right to the Army’s doorstep,” the presentation states.

Location services are for the most part manually enabled. Once activated, they can add a 10-digit grid coordinate to photos, video or text messages. Soldiers are cautioned to disable geo-tagging on photos uploaded to websites like Flickr and Picasa, and to turn off GPS functions on cameras and smart phones, which can inadvertently lead to tagged photos.

The warning comes after the Air Force issued a similar alert to airmen in mid-November. Sweetnam said the Army, too, wanted to encourage responsible use.

As social networking sites become more popular and add more features, Sweetnam said, it is important for soldiers to remember to consider carefully the things they post online, like flight times and troop movement information.

He likened operational data to a photo taken on a drunken night out. Once it’s online, it can be copied, screen-grabbed or otherwise recorded. Even if it’s removed later, it may be too late.

“The advice we give every commander and individual soldier is, ‘Think before you post,’ ” he said. “If there’s anything about the post the enemy can use, don’t post it.”

Aside from endangering comrades, violating operational security can be punishable under military law. “What we try to do is educate before we start slapping hands,” Sweetnam said. “It’s important that the field understands what the repercussions can be, and move from there.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.