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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
According to Carrier IQ, its primary use is to find what is trending widely throughout a network. It can also help its carriers learn where calls are dropping and figure out any device malfunctions.
But Android researcher Trevor Eckhart says Carrier IQ may be spying on its users. Eckhart recently claimed that a piece of diagnostic software on the phones was secretly recording data like keystrokes and a user’s Web browsing history.
This week Eckhart released a video Monday detailing that the Carrier IQ software saw the HTTP and HTTPS traffic from his browser, saw all phone numbers that he input before they were dialed, and received the contents of all of his SMS messages.
Paul Ohm, a former law professor and Justice Department prosecutor said, according to Informationweek, “If the Carrier IQ/cellphone story is accurate, this is a massive felony wiretap. Federal wiretapping is a 5-year felony."
According to PC World, Carrier IQ's software is on over 140 million handsets around the world.
CNET reports that the software ran on the iPhone, dating back to iOS 3. Apple said it hasn't used Carrier IQ since the release of iOS 5 and will remove it altogether from its products in a software update in the future.
Sprint says they use Carrier IQ to find any network connection problems. The company said they do not and cannot read messages, photos, or videos using Carrier IQ.
According to CNN Money, a statement from Carrier IQ said that it doesn't "record," meaning it doesn't transmit most of the information to carriers it stores on its phones.
Security analyst Dan Rosenberg reminds people there is a big difference between recording keystrokes ... and actually collecting, storing, and transmitting this data to carriers. He said, “ I have seen no evidence that they are collecting anything more than anonymized metrics data."
