Are you being watched?
An independent researcher just discovered a hidden application that records what millions of people write, view and search for on their mobile phones. It sends all of that data to a company no one's ever heard of. And we have no idea what that company is doing with our information.
Sounds like 1984. But it's happening in 2011.
Earlier today, Sen. Al Franken demanded answers from the company, Carrier IQ, calling its technology "deeply troubling." We now need a full investigation.
Carrier IQ is working with mobile phone manufacturers and cellphone carriers to install its spying software on Androids and iPhones, and it may be on models made by BlackBerry, Nokia and other manufacturers.
Researcher Trevor Eckhart exposed the privacy breach in a shocking video that shows how Carrier IQ secretly records actions that you take on your phone -- numbers that you dial, letters that you press when texting or searching the Web, menu buttons that you push -- and sends it all back to Carrier IQ headquarters.
There's no way to turn any of this off without hacking your phone. And mobile phone carriers neglected to inform the public that this software exists in the first place.
The fact that one company is secretly storing away the data of millions of mobile phone users -- without our knowledge, and with no way for us to opt out -- is just incredible. You'd expect this sort of thing from the Chinese government -- not from a company operating in the present-day U.S.
This is not only a privacy problem, it's a democracy problem.
Mobile phones have become the ultimate democracy devices. Activists from Cairo to New York City to Los Angeles have used their phones to broadcast images of pepper-spraying cops, handcuffed journalists and squares full of protesters. We must ensure that the most important movements of our time aren't compromised by data spies with little regard for our free speech or privacy.
Law professor and former Department of Justice attorney Paul Ohm says that Carrier IQ's snoopware "is very likely a federal wiretap," which means that the company could be prosecuted for breaking federal law.
And Sen. Franken said that "Consumers need to know that their safety and privacy are being protected by the companies they trust with their sensitive information...Carrier IQ has a lot of questions to answer."
Free Press agrees. We're calling on Congress and the Department of Justice to investigate Carrier IQ and to get some answers.
Follow Josh Levy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/levjoy
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57335715-281/how-carrier-iq-was-wrongly-accused-of-keylogging/
But in the paranoid far left this is merely proof by lack of evidence.
Thus, as this point, claiming the software records and logs absolutely everything, and then sends that back to 3rd parties, is nothing but speculation that has yet to be proven. For anyone who is really concerned about a 3rd party monitoring what they do, I have no idea why they'd bother with a "smart phone" in the first place. I definitely wouldn't understand why they'd have a cell phone in their name. One can still acquire prepaid phones with a camera and internet capabilities with cash. One can add minutes to the thing via "gift credit cards" that are purchased with cash. If one is truly paranoid about being "tracked" via cell phone, this is the way to go about having one, as it will never be affiliated with your actual identity.
Regardless, in the mean time, people need to relax before running around screaming "the sky is falling." Let's see how Carrier IQ responds to Franken first.
It could be stopped by a real politics that favors citizens over corporations and prisons. It will take strong privacy laws with severe penalties. Democratic politicians do not pass them , Republicans do not pass them.
There is instead a kind of governmental/corporate marriage of interests to spy on everyone all the time with every possible means.
If it ever turns into a police state here, it will be a police state impossible to overthrow. Survivalists and Tea Party types are fooling themselves about their ability to be free and independent, in the face of this technological assault on our practical freedom..
We get new strong laws and regulations or we get a surveillance state.
The Constitution was written in a time before this all began..probably nothing but a fresh new Constitutional Amendment will do the trick and turn the tide back to us and our freedom and independence.
Obama is talking this up? No! Perry? No. None of them are. We are without representation. What has representation is a Skynet-like police/corporate future very science fiction like..... happening now.
It cannot be stopped one case at a time. Carrier IQ is just one, name 300 more instances, name 10,000!
You are always being watched in many ways.
Since you can't take the battery out on many phones there are possibilities of remote tracking and monitoring even when you think that your phone is off.
I still have a nice and small, Ericsson T28 from many years ago with. It is voice activated and has much better sound quality than any current phone I've tried. And you can take the battery out. Combined with prepaid phone service, there is little chance of tracking.
If you still want smartphone capabilities get an iPod Touch or a tablet and use wifi. Wifi is easy to find and there is much less tracking.
speak fer yerself.
;p
FYI: The Android App to remove Carrier IQ only works on "Rooted" Android phones running Android OS 2.0.1 and up.
More Coffee...
R/ PRONESE
And while my HTC phone is rootkitted by sprint and htc- ---other htc phones on verizon and overseas so far- are not affected by this- it seems like this whole debacle is carrier driven and the manufacturers pulled the trigger for them.
There are 3 statewide class action lawsuits as I write this by Monday- I expect more. Sprint T-mobile, AT&T HTC, APPLE, Samsung are among the corporations implicated.
It has long been replaced. Paranoia has become fact.