Carrier IQ Android OEM tracking software... logs your every move... and not happy about XDA

[berck]

Its on Forbes today too...

Phone 'Rootkit' Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In Millions Of Cases

 

[Frank Jr.]

Logging Software on Millions of Phones

This may be old news but worth another look. wired.com

 

[LER]

This is TrevE's work (XDA Fame). Exposing Carrier IQ for what it is, and getting EFF involved. Now what I want to see is Sprint and HTC come clean and remove this gunk from my phone.

 

[LER]

The more airtime and press this gets the better as far as I'm concerned.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The more airtime and press this gets the better as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed

Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Merged Frank's thread into the main one....

 

[rockymtnhigh]

So now it is on Forbes, Wired, Gizmodo, I am glad to see this happening - as that rootkit is a serious invasion of privacy, no matter what the company claims.

 

[jrp]

A little more information:

Carrier IQ Logging Software Found on Many Mobile Phones - Mac Rumors

 

[rockymtnhigh]

A small story in The Daily this morning, and on mashable as well:

Carrier IQ Tracking Scandal Spirals Out of Control

Loved this quote:

All of this is reminiscent to the iPhone tracking scandal from April 2011, when it was discovered that Apple’s iPhone tracks your location history. Steve Jobs then famously said – in an e-mail reply to a question from a customer – that Apple is not tracking its users’ location, but Android is tracking everyone. The authenticity of such e-mails has often been disputed, but whoever sent that message might have been right

Apparently Steve knew what was going on (assuming he sent the email).

 

[JamesJ]

and its now confirmed on Ios as well...All major phone makers seem to be putting carrier iq on their phones.

 

[Neutron]

Didn't Apple get bad press for this not too long ago as well??

 

[Ronnie-]

The information logged for iOS seems limited to phone call activity and location (if Location Services are enabled). Also unlike the implementation found on Eckhart's HTC, iOS users can opt out of these diagnostics by simply going to Settings -> General -> About -> Diagnostics & Usage -> Don't Send. The actually logged diagnostic data appears to be fully accessible for perusal in that same setting menu.

From Rockys link.

 

[diogen]

and its now confirmed on Ios as well...All major phone makers seem to be putting carrier iq on their phones.

It looks more like the carriers have the last say. And might be US-specific.

Not a single (Android) phone from Europe I've tested had any traces of it.
Obviously, CyanogenMod doesn't have it either.
And so does the Nexus line...

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Didn't Apple get bad press for this not too long ago as well??

Apple's reaction was
a) others do it big time, we don't
b) we are gona fix it right the way...

Diogen.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

It looks more like the carriers have the last say. And might be US-specific.

Not a single (Android) phone from Europe I've tested had any traces of it.
Obviously, CyanogenMod doesn't have it either.
And so does the Nexus line...

Diogen.

Yes, those who have rooted and put a custom rom on their phones are free from it, but that misses the 99% (a different 99% ) who are running stock phones, and who actually want a phone and not a weekend hobby.

I am not surprised its US-specific, Carrier IQ is a California company; and its market is US cellular carriers. I personally hope this gains more traction and we, in the US, can have a meaningful discussion about how we are tracked, and why. Love or hate Apple, at least they are giving their end users the ability to say whether or not they want those diagnostics being used or not.

 

[diogen]

...but that misses the 99% (a different 99% ) who are running stock phones, and who actually want a phone and not a weekend hobby.

WTF is "different"?

Diogen.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

WTF is "different"?

Diogen.

Not certain it merited a WTF, but the 99% refers to the "We are the 99%, the Occupy movement). It was a joke.

 

[John Kotches]

does anyone remember a quote from Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google at the time) saying any expectation of privacy on the Internet was illusory at best?

that's not the exact quote, but it is the basic idea.



Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

 

[rockymtnhigh]

does anyone remember a quote from Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google at the time) saying any expectation of privacy on the Internet was illusory at best?

that's not the exact quote, but it is the basic idea.



Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk

Well, I refuse to accept that. AND if that is Google's position, then maybe it is evil.


What we choose to put out in public is just that - a matter of choice, and if I publicly post - like I am doing right now (even though under an assumed name), I have a diminished expectation of privacy. But what I choose to do on my phone or my computer - in terms of which sites I visit and which numbers I call - should NOT be open to being tracked or shared. I have an expectation of privacy that I would argue society would deem reasonable. NOW, I know full well that the Supreme Court ruled in Smith v Maryland, 442 US 735 (1978), that the installation of a pen register to track phone numbers called was not a search where there was an expectation of privacy in the numbers we call, but I would argue that that is bad law - and in today's context, should be over-ruled (indeed, there is a chance the Court will do that in the GPS surveillance case, US v Jones, which was argued on November 8th).

If we do not stand up for - and demand protection of our rights - they will disappear. I am thrilled that this tracking system is being publicly exposed in the media. And I suspect the millions of Android and Blackberry users out there do not want their information shared the way it is being done.

 

[diogen]

does anyone remember a quote from Eric Schmidt...

This goes all the way back to Scott McNealy's 1999
"You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it."

He reiterated the same in less polite form after 9/11.

And this is the guy that should know: he sold all the backbone server that do this BigBrother stuff.
At least did it at that time. We are just slow to grasp the scale...

Diogen.

EDIT: Eric Schmidt should know, too. He was Sun's CTO from 1983 to 1997.