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Do you remember the huge scandal that was Carrier iQ? It's alright if you don't - it's been over four years since the company's data-logging mobile phone software was revealed, resulting in accusations of privacy violations, lax security, lawsuits both from and against the software maker and its partners, and eventually the removal of Carrier iQ code from phones via security patches. The months-long scandal basically killed Carrier iQ as a company... but now its corporate assets are owned by a carrier jokingly referred to as "the Death Star." There's no way that can go wrong, is there?
Privacy on your mobile phone is kind of a big deal. And a company named Carrier IQ made it an even bigger one about a year ago by getting all up in a bunch of people's business. If you don't remember the Carrier IQ debacle of last winter, let me give you a rundown.
In Sprint's ever expanding quest to rid its handsets of Carrier IQ, the OTAs just keep on comin'. Today's the day for the HTC EVO Shift 4G, and the update just started rolling out. The changelog looks all too familiar:
Congress is a lot like a slot machine - once in a while, something good comes out. A new bill introduced by Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts would require cellular carriers in the US to disclose to end users upon purchase of a mobile device any tracking software present on said device, or any such software that might be installed at a later date by the carrier, manufacturer, or OS provider (that would be Google for Android).
Last week, Sprint rolled out OTA updates that removed Carrier IQ, as well as providing various other bug fixes and enhancements to a few different devices. The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is on the receiving end of a similar update beginning today, with the full rollout finishing its run within 10 days.
A few days ago the EVO 3D on Sprint received an update described as a "security update." At the time, it was unclear exactly what the update really brought to the table, but now the answer is pretty clear: it removed Carrier IQ. This comes after a whirlwind of controversy surrounding the software, which was initially uncovered by Android developer Trevor Eckhart.
Carrier IQ has been a hot topic as of late, but not without good reason. The "service" that no one had really heard of before October of this year has been raising eyebrows for the last couple of months, leaving us all wondering how much data was actually being extracted from our devices.
Amid the turmoil surrounding Carrier IQ, the company's VP of Marketing, Andrew Coward, has come forward in a series of interviews with a few clarifications.
Yesterday, we caught early wind of two class action lawsuits filed against CarrierIQ, HTC, and Samsung in Chicago and St. Louis. You can now add a whole new class action suit to the pile, except this time it also names AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Motorola, and Apple in addition to the aforementioned three companies.
Carrier IQ is bad news. We have spent much ink covering and debating the maliciousness of this pre-installed service which hides itself in the background of some Android devices, collects user information, and then sends it back to carriers. However according to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Carrier IQ is just the tip of the iceberg as most smartphones can be hacked remotely "with ease." At a recent speech, Assange stated point blank that anyone with an iPhone, BlackBerry or Gmail account was "screwed." While Assange didn't mention Android by name in his introductory speech, our favorite operating system is indeed referenced in some Wikileaks' reports. No OS is ever truly safe after all.
We all knew it was going to happen - the first lawsuits are being filed against Carrier IQ and its data-stealing nature. Not only is CIQ getting hit with a suit, but HTC and Samsung are also being thrown into the ring since many of their phones support the software.
If you're a Verizon Wireless customer and concerned about Carrier IQ, it looks like you can leave your worry at the door. Verizon's Jeffery Nelson confirmed via Twitter to The Verge's Joshua Topolsky that Verizon phone are free of CIQ, and that this "was made clear two weeks ago."
Lately, we've talked a lot about Carrier IQ, the "service" that hides itself in the background of an unknown number of Android devices, harvesting information and sending it back to carriers. While it's still unclear how deep the rabbit hole actually goes, the dev who discovered it, TrevE, is still digging in search of the answer. His latest findings may shine a bit of light on the subject, and I can promise you one thing: it's not pretty.
Trevor Eckhart, a developer involved in uncovering a huge security vulnerability that affected several HTC devices, was recently threatened by Carrier IQ (CIQ), a company involved in gathering various forms of user data and sending it to carriers or manufacturers for analysis. For those who haven't been following the story, here's what happened:
If you don't know who Trevor Eckhart is, you might remember a little piece we published earlier this year about a massive HTC data vulnerability caused by the company's data-logging operations. Trevor was the guy who found that vulnerability and did almost all of the legwork in investigating it. Since then, Trevor has been hard at work looking at more mobile data logging applications used by various manufacturers, including one written by a company called Carrier IQ.
I am quite speechless right now. Justin Case and I have spent all day together with Trevor Eckhart (you may remember him as TrevE of DamageControl and Virus ROMs) looking into Trev's findings deep inside HTC's latest software installed on such phones as EVO 3D, EVO 4G, Thunderbolt, and others.