CarrierIQ: The Saga So Far

What keeps this blog hopping is that there are so many violations of privacy expectations these days. That means I can barely keep up, and you can read about the details from many other sources that have better information than I do. Here is my collection of articles and links about Carrier IQ and its spat with the cell-phone-using public.

Background: Trevor Eckhart discovered a piece of software (a rootkit?) installed on many Android, Blackberry, and Nokia cell phones that records keystrokes(?) and records just about everything that happens on that phone. When this news became public, Carrier IQ issued a cease-and-desist letter to Eckhart. The tech-savvy community took this as confirmation that everything Carrier IQ was accused of doing was true.

Carrier IQ: Most Phones Ship With "Rootkit" (11/16/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/16/1517248/carrieriq-most-phones-ship-with-rootkit

Carrier IQ Tries To Silence Security Researcher (11/22/11)

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/11/23/0032233/carrieriq-tries-to-silence-security-researcher

Cease and Desist Letter Sent to Eckhart by Carrier IQ (11/16/11)

https://www.eff.org/sites/default/files/eckhart_cease_desist_demand_redacted.pdf

More on Carrier IQ (11/15/11)

Analyzes and extrapolates on the emerging data, pointing out that phone company employees would then have extremely good intell that could be used for home invasions.

http://www.xda-developers.com/android/more-on-carrier-iq/

Carrier IQ Relents, Apologizes (11/24/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/11/24/1852213/carrier-iq-relents-apologizes

Their press release (11/23/11):

http://www.carrieriq.com/company/PR.EckhartStatement.pdf

http://www.theverge.com/2011/11/23/2583862/carrier-iq-retracts-cease-and-desist-letter-sent-to-xda-developers

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging (12/2/11)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57335715-281/how-carrier-iq-was-wrongly-accused-of-keylogging/

Carrier IQ Drama Continues (12/3/11)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/12/03/2112220/carrier-iq-drama-continues

So what's going on? Carrier IQ has pointed out that if anyone is recording anything, it is the carriers, who have control over the data stream.

Interestingly, in the CNET article above, they say "...AT&T's statement, which merely says that Carrier IQ is used in accordance with the company's privacy policies." To me, this sounds like a paper wall between the public and spooky surveillance. What AT&T is really saying is, "we don't look at unless the Federal government shows up and tells us to give your data to them."