As if a class action lawsuit wasn’t bad enough, Carrier IQ may have an FTC investigation to deal with, as well. After Senator Al Franken raised his own concerns over the practices of the company and the manufacturers and carriers they work with, Massachusetts congressman Edward Markey has taken things a step further. Markey is imploring the FTC to look into the data-gathering tactics Carrier IQ employs and how the collected information is handled. Privacy concerns and the potential violation of federal laws on wiretapping are at the heart of the congressman’s plea for greater accountability on behalf of Carrier IQ.
As more and more information comes to light, bigger questions are being asked about the ethics and practices of carriers, manufacturers, and software providers when it comes to customer privacy. What began as an isolated incident on HTC handsets sparked a campaign by members of the Android community to uncover the truth behind Carrier IQ, and had that investigation not produced a cease and desist order from Carrier IQ’s lawyers the issue may have gone overlooked. With publicity growing each day, we haven’t heard the last of Carrier IQ.
[via Engadget]
Carrier IQ is so fucked, there is no way they’re going to recover. Shady business ftw? :/
Carrier IQ isn’t shady – all they did was make the program.
Your carrier is shady – they are the ones installing it in your phone.
CarrierIQ has to be shady, hence the reason for the cease and desist letter they eventually retracted which put them on the radar. They are obviously involved in some way and did not want TrevE digging any deeper for some undisclosed reason.
Carrier And Manufacturers of the Devices are shady…..So this shit storm could get a whole lot bigger….bigger than that pile of crap from the Triceratops in Jurassic Park.
All they did was make a program that can log my every keystroke even on encrypted bank accounts.. and left it wide open,,, and they are not at fault you say?
Go look the word tool up, buddy. That IS your picture…
Wow you should read what you write- and pretend someone intelligent is reading it then make changes that are then palatable?? Or not?
From one of your previous responses: “NO business has any right to install software that logs every keystroke i ever typed in, every password to every bank account, every text message we ever sent, etc etc.. and the list goes on… ”
Yep, I feel the same way… but CarrierIQ didn’t install that in all the phones that your family uses — your service provider did that to you.
Also: thanks for your service to the country.
LOL why because some fuckin paranoids on the internet spread false info?
That makes them, “shady”?
I love some of the posters on this forum who will spread paranoia and create these crazy ideas in their heads.
I am sure there is a med that will help you with this.
This reminds me of how fucked in the head celebrities spread bullshit false information about vaccines and as a result people vaccinate their kids less potentially bringng back horrible illness like whooping cough.
I read the “false rumors on the internet” on XDA developers ..treve- the dev who picked this up- is credible and everything he wrote was true. The Electronic Freedom Frontier (an organization that fights for consumer protection online) immediately leaped to Treve Eckharts defense- and then Carrier CIQ stopped corporate bullying of the person who outed their criminal behavior. The hundred s of offers to send Treve cash money for his defense fund also might have given them a clue as to the storm that was about to consume them.
Maybe before you become an industry apologist you read any htc phone on Sprint’s network logcat- and look in some system folders- and see with your own eyes- that you dont know what the hell your talking about- its all true.
The_ATL_Guy
Seriously go look at the video’s posted by Eckhart, you can see the sms messages getting output into the debug log he has connected to. As a programmer I would like to say that if it what ever the issue why would you echo sms contents out into the log? It SERVES NO PURPOSE at all, even for troubleshooting a broken keypad.
Now Im not going to say that it may not have been a small over-site or unintended consequence of logging all they are but its defineatly not a normal thing being done here.
Wow look at the government go. Denying AT&T, Senator Franken concerned and the FTC. I’m so surprised.
There must be an election coming up.
I see this as an opportunity to jump ship from carrier without ETF fee.
I was thinking the same thing…unless Sprint gets the G Nex, might have to move to Big Red again.
Sprint sanctioned this stuff- I just came off them- I and my wife and daughter all had HTC EVO 4g smartphones… it was riddled with rootkit with Sprint’s blessing.
Don’t like Verizon but they were smart enough enuff not to engage in this sliminess. What choice do we have?
Sprint let me go with no trouble – thats how you know whats really going on.
Gonna miss unlimited data- but now we know why it was unlimited don’t we?
I wanted a Galaxy Nexus- but from reading- seems Samsung has this stuff too-(but not on the G-Nexus- since its pure Google Android)-
But I can’t buy a handset from a company with no scruples.
No- wrong phrase- I mean- I WON’T buy a handset from an unethical manufacturer.
Do the carriers have no responsibility for this? They are the ones who asked their manufactures to install the software or roms on the phones are they not? Its possible ( maybe unlikely ) that the manufactures didn’t know what they where flashing no?
Shit storm going down. I suggest everyone get more popcorn
Just follow the path: Manufacturer<<<<<<C IQ<<<<<Carrier<<<<<<<<<<<WALL STREET<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<HOMELAND SECURITY
Mystery solved!!!!
When this is all said and done it will turn out that no consumer was harmed and no data was mined.
All the paranoids on this forum make for great entertainment.
Per usual the far lefties like Franken are popping a chub right about now.
Really? This is not a matter of whether consumers were actually harmed, it is based on the fact that they are harnessing the ability to log more than they should be able to.
My MacBook Pro has a webcam that I initiate when I want to use it. If Apple had snuck something in so that my webcam initiates on its own and records me as I fap to pr0n, it doesn’t really matter if they used the video. It’s the mere fact that they shouldn’t even be able to get to it.
they are not doing that nor are they key logging
You make these blanket claims of innocence on these corporations behalf- -but you haven’t read my logcats or a single entry on the 150million phones.
Shut up corporate troll.
At least I hope your a paid one. If your not getting paid- change troll to chump.
LOL! “shut up corporate troll”!! ROFL!!
And you know that my personal data and my wifes and my daughters was not violated????- because….. you damned well don’t. Respectfully- please shut up. The software was on every member of my family’s phone for years in some cases and a 150million more peoples’…. Having installed the software that could so easily violate mine and my family’s identities- CIQ/HTC/ Sprint/ Samsung etc.. left us casually wide open to wide scale identity theft.
Please don’t speak for me and my family.
We are outraged and want them punished to the farthest extent of the criminal and civil law. NO business has any right to install software that logs every keystroke i ever typed in, every password to every bank account, every text message we ever sent, etc etc.. and the list goes on…
May be you’ll just lay down and take it ATL Guy but me and mine have a spine.
This combat veteran of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division characterizes himself as right wing. And if an elected American Senator (from the left) is the voice of reason demanding answers to why the American consumer has been taken advantage of so shamelessly by these unethical corporations- then he has my right wing support.
Don’t make this political. “We the people” have been attacked if you support the attackers- then we know where you stand. If you think this is some sport to watch- move out of the way. There isn’t a damned thing funny about any of this mess.
100 lbs of stupid.
Pfizer I am sure makes a med to help with your mental stability.
Buh bye, Carrier IQ.
Samsung: why am I looking at the number of lawsuits made by Apple?
Verizon: actually that’s the number of pissed off customers from AT&T
HTC: more like the unemployment number in America
Motorola: its the number of phones LG still has on the shelf
LG: hey!
Motorola: well it damn sure isn’t the number of handsets you sold
HTC: its my satisfactory number
Samsung: if that’s the case then your unsatisfactory number is the same
HTC: hater
Sony: that’s my number of PS3s sold! :D
***cricket***
HTC: that’s the amount of money loss for your stupid network stunt
We buy the phone and pay for services, these are our services. Any apps should be allowed to be uninstalled without root. If the carriers want to use three devices that we pay for without giving us the option take it off, they should gives us a discount. If they want info on problems with coverage and stability, read the forums and comments. Get customer service that is based in the states. Don’t invade our privacy. This is not in our contracts, thus it should be an app for us to download. Offer a discount if we participate. I’m going to root my phone now, so I can have peace of mind knowing the phone is my phone, not sprint’s tool
Its not enough to simply root your phone you have to flash it with a rom thats free of anything other than pure android sources or a known safe rom such as Cyanogenmod.