Is Carrier IQ Software Really Spying on Your Cell Phone?

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Monday, December 05, 2011

Carrier IQ, the makers of the cellphone-spying software of the same name, have come under investigation for their application, but some wonder if the situation is as grave as it seems.

Although the Americas and Asia are bigger smartphone markets than Europe, the continent’s lawmakers were the first to discover and publicize the alleged problems with Carrier IQ that include monitoring texts, websites visited, and other personal data. Some of the offending companies include T-Mobile, Sprint, Samsung, Apple, and HTC that contributed to the 141 million cellphones containing the Carrier IQ application right now.

Carrier IQ said their software helps improve the cell phone experience by enhancing cellphone coverage, battery life, and other aspects that are important to users. It is also used for network maintenance and hardware fixes as well. European government is still suspicious though.

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With the allegations of spying, unknown amounts of data collection, keystroke monitoring, and Carrier IQ software required on many phones, it is easy to become apprehensive about buying a cellphone at all. However, research done by an independent and self-proclaimed unbiased source reveals what is really going on with the cellphone telemetry company.

According to a study by Dan Rosenberg, a consultant at Virtual Security Research, there are many “erroneous” reports what Carrier IQ does, and because of misinformation, the public is understandably concerned.

Rosenberg’s findings divulge several important facts about Carrier IQ software, such as: “CarrierIQ cannot record SMS text bodies, web page contents, or email content,” “CarrierIQ cannot record any other keystrokes besides those that occur using the dialer,” and “CarrierIQ can record the URLs that are being visited, but not the contents of those pages.”

This means out of the two types of information that could be heavily abused, Carrier IQ only records one of them exclusively: phone records are available to phone companies and law enforcement alike, so they should not be a subject of much debate.

Carrier IQ, then, has the exclusive capability to track and monitor website addresses visited. Although the company claims that it cannot see what information is accessed, a simple trip to the website could provide a guess what users are doing on the Internet.

Rosenberg’s study suggests several solutions to protect consumers from Carrier IQ, and to quell the fears raised by its software. He concludes that buyers should be able to opt out of Carrier IQ; buyers should be made aware of CarrierIQ’s provisions and purposes if they do not opt out, and “third-party oversight” should be mandated to prevent abuse.

Standing alone is the tracking of Urls, to which Rosenberg writes, “The legality of gathering full URLs… should be examined.”

In response to the investigation, some phone makers like HTC are taking action. They said, “HTC is investigating the option to allow consumers to opt-out of data collection by the Carrier IQ application,” to distance themselves from the investigation, according to The Verge.