Anyone else following the Carrier IQ debacle?

Blacktop Roland · Dec 20, 2011

A program that is secretly installed on lots of phones (Android, Windows, Iphone and Blackberry, I believe) which records all your actions on your phone with the capability to intercept your text messages and phone calls. A security researcher found it and now the company is in the limelight. Anyone else following this or aware of it? I didn't see a thread for it.

Link to an article on CNN Money.

DavidGP · Dec 23, 2011

Sadly that webpage for me is dead, it maybe ok for others but in UK its dead.

I know of some apps that monitor your activity and Android and Apple are the worst of the three, the Windows one is not so intrusive at present.

Blacktop Roland · Dec 23, 2011

Hmm, that's odd. Here's some other ones:
Wikipedia of the Company
Business Week
Huff Post, where the FBI director says the FBI could concievably tap Carrier IQ as source of information. You might be able to search Huff Post-UK for "Carrier IQ" to see the results.

DavidGP · Dec 27, 2011

Hi

Managed to read the article at CNN (noticed an extra http in the url, deleted and now ok) yeah the story on this in the USA has exploded and I think more is to come of this as it seems no-one is being too up front about exactly what this app is collecting and sending where.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/carrier-iq-architecture

The Android OS has a fine-grained permissions model in which any newly-installed software must disclose to the user that it may read copies of system logs before being installed.
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If this happens as intended and users actually are not click happy then they could disable the reading of logs on Android devices.

As far as I know this is not being used by UK providers...yet! but if it is then its likely to fall very foul of our strong data protection laws (UK ICO already uses the opt in/out for cookies)

Processing personal data must above all else be fair, as well as satisfying the relevant conditions for processing. “Processing” broadly means collecting, using, disclosing, retaining or disposing of personal data, and if any aspect of processing is unfair, there will be a breach of the first data protection principle – even if you can show that you have met one or more of the conditions for processing.

Fairness generally requires you to be transparent – clear and open with individuals about how their information will be used. Transparency is always important, but especially so in situations where individuals have a choice about whether they wish to enter into a relationship with you. If individuals know at the outset what their information will be used for, they will be able to make an informed decision about whether to enter into a relationship, or perhaps to try to renegotiate the terms of that relationship. Assessing whether information is being processed fairly depends partly on how it is obtained. In particular, if anyone is deceived or misled when the information is obtained, then this is unlikely to be fair.
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Bold bits the clincher for us in the UK, as from what is mentioned in USA news stories, the user has not been asked up front.

Interesting stuff and a topic that will go on for some time I think.

Mimsy · Jan 8, 2012

How to detect, and possibly remove, Carrier IQ. In case any of our US-based members are curious.

As always when messing with the functionality of any electronic device, don't do it unless you know what you're doing (and no, thinking you know that when you actually don't is not good enough), and if you're not willing to accept all risks and liabilities. In short, if you break anything while following or trying to follow the direction in that article, it's entirely your own fault.

LauraR · Jan 8, 2012

Thanks for the link, Mims. I thought I had opted out of that (like I always do for any app that wants me to send info) when I got the phone. I had, but it was good to know it for sure.

Mimsy · Jan 8, 2012

LauraR said: ↑

Thanks for the link, Mims. I thought I had opted out of that (like I always do for any app that wants me to send info) when I got the phone. I had, but it was good to know it for sure.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. My carrier is one of the few that doesn't use Carrier IQ, but since big companies tend to say whatever they want to keep their customers, I ran the detection app on my phone, just to make sure. No CIQ in sight, which frankly I expected, since the backlash of lying about that would be too severe to be worth the risk, but it's nice to know for sure.

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Anyone else following the Carrier IQ debacle?

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DavidGP MajorGeeks Forum Administrator - Grand Pooh-Bah Staff Member

Blacktop Roland Private First Class

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