If we didn’t love the EFF already, we’d be proposing marriage now that it’s managed to reverse-engineer Carrier IQ’s pernicious monitoring software. CIQ exists in phones in three parts, the app itself, a configuration file and a database — where …
Federal investigators have launched a probe in order to examine Carrier IQ’s smartphone software, which tracks a range of activity and sends certain data to wireless carriers without users’ knowledge. Carrier IQ executives met with officials from both the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commuission on Tuesday, The Washington Post reports. “We are complying with all investigations at this time as we have nothing to hide,” said Carrier IQ representative Mira Woods. “We have been completely transparent through this process.” Read on for more. Security researcher Trevor Eckhart recently pulled Carrier IQ back into the spotlight after the firm’s software first ruffled feathers back in September. Carrier IQ says its software “collects enough information to understand the customer experience with devices
Carrier IQ, the vendor and carrier-installed rootkit software pulled into the spotlight last month by security researcher Trevor Eckhart, has caused quite a stir. Carriers including AT&T and Sprint use the software as a means of collecting data logs that might help them identify and address connectivity problems and other issues, but the software’s covert nature and wide range of snooping capabilities make it a concern. The good news is that detecting the software on your Android phone couldn’t be easier thanks to a new app from Bitdefender called Carrier IQ Finder. Read on for more. Android phone users can install Carrier IQ Finder [Android Market link] from within the Market for free. Once the app is installed on your smartphone,
Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Carrier IQ have been sued in a federal court by what the lawyers involved have deemed a “cell phone tracking software scandal.” Law firms Sianni & Straite LLP, Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy LLP, and Keefe Bartels L.L.C. have jointly filed a class action complaint in a Delaware Federal Court related to the “unprecedented breach of the digital privacy rights of 150 million cell phone users.” The complaint suggests that the aforementioned carriers and vendors violated the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The suit of course refers to the companies’ use of Carrier IQ, the carrier and vendor-implemented cell phone spyware discovered recently
WikiLeaks’ latest batch of documents hit the web this week, providing the world with a scarily thorough breakdown of a thoroughly scary industry — government surveillance. The organization’s trove, known as the Spy Files, includes a total of 287 …
Last week, research published by security expert Trevor Eckhart pulled back the veil on Carrier IQ, a suite of what can seemingly be described as spyware pre-installed on a wide range of devices by both carriers and vendors. Eckhart cited a BGR story from September as an early reference to the software, which at that time was thought to be a somewhat benign set of quality-control measures. “Carrier IQ is used to understand what problems customers are having with our network or devices so we can take action to improve service quality,” a Sprint spokesperson told BGR in September. “It collects enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to devise solutions to use and
