Daniel Barton-Kennedy was convicted by a British court-martial after he kept his SIM card active despite an order to remove it before shipping out to Exercise Eastern Warrior in Tapa, Estonia, in January 2026, Ars Technica reported.
Ars Technica reported that his rank was reduced and he received a 10-month detention sentence. The briefing on Jan. 7, 2026, in the United Kingdom told him to take out SIM cards, shut down location settings and run a trusted virtual private network on personal electronic devices. Barton-Kennedy, a corporal with more than seven years of service in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Lancaster Regiment, was the service member involved.
Exercise Eastern Warrior took place in Tapa, Estonia, about 90 miles from Russia’s border and roughly midway between Tallinn and that border. Ars Technica reported that the unit received more reminders of the policy days after arriving there. Ars Technica reported that Barton-Kennedy disregarded the instruction, and that his phone was hacked after he kept his SIM active during deployment; stolen nude images of him were used as blackmail.
An Estonian newspaper called Eesti Ekspress broke the story first. Ars Technica received a 21-page British appeals court document from the paper.
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