Saturday, December 3, 2011

Carrier IQ

It turns out that Carrier IQ's stroke copier continues copying everything in texts, phone or internet even when it is off the phone network in "Airplane Mode". So, for example, when you are on your home wifi system and you have your phone and data network turned off and are only on your home Wifi, Carrier IQ still continues to record all your keystrokes and moves on the internet and conversations through facetime or Skype, even if you are completely off your phone network completely. Because of this many feel that wiretapping laws have been broken and because of this and many other things several suits against the companies involved have been filed in the U.S. It is likely only a matter of time before legal action comes against the companies involved from European courts as well since around 150 million phones have it in them worldwide.

This becomes very problematic when it is sent out and reaches servers because often Servers keep all information that goes through them for years at a time. So, literally anyone maintaining those servers might have access to this information if they knew where to look for anyone with this software on their  phones that gets sent to the server by this program that records ALL keystrokes whether they be phone numbers, internet addresses, texts, emails or whatever. If your phone number is recorded as the source then all they have to do is to match the phone number to you and then you could be a target for blackmail, fraud, or any other kind of scheme whether Carrier IQ knew about this or not.

If interested in source news article please read:

Phone 'Rootkit' Maker Carrier IQ May Have Violated Wiretap Law In .

 

Here is a copy of part of Senator Al Franken's Letter to the makers of IQ:

So on Thursday, Senator Al Franken sent an open letter to Carrier IQ’s president and chief executive Larry Lenhart with a list of pointed questions about what exactly Carrier IQ does.
Here’s the full text:
Dear Mr. Lenhart,

I am very concerned by recent reports that your company’s software—pre-installed on smartphones used by millions of Americans—is logging and may be transmitting extraordinarily sensitive information from consumers’ phones, including:


•           when they turn their phones on;
•           when they turn their phones off;
•           the phone numbers they dial;
•           the contents of text messages they receive;
•           the URLs of the websites they visit;
•           the contents of their online search queries—even when those searches are encrypted; and
•           the location of the customer using the smartphone—even when the customer has expressly denied permission for an app that is currently running to access his or her location.

It appears that this software runs automatically every time you turn your phone on.  It also appears that an average user would have no way to know that this software is running—and that when that user finds out, he or she will have no reasonable means to remove or stop it.
These revelations are especially concerning in light of Carrier IQ’s public assertions that it is “not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools” (November 16), “[d]oes not record your keystrokes,” and “[d]oes not inspect or report on the content of your communications, such as the content of emails and SMSs” (November 23).
I understand the need to provide usage and diagnostic information to carriers.  I also understand that carriers can modify Carrier IQ’s software.  But it appears that Carrier IQ’s software captures a broad swath of extremely sensitive information from users that would appear to have nothing to do with diagnostics—including who they are calling, the contents of the texts they are receiving, the contents of their searches, and the websites they visit.
These actions may violate federal privacy laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.  This is potentially a very serious matter.
I ask that you provide answers to the following questions by December 14, 2011.

Here's The Letter Senator Al Franken Just Sent To Phone 'Rootkit' Firm Carrier IQ 

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