Sen. Al Franken Seeking Carrier IQ Answers from Carriers
Senator Al Franken is now questioning four wireless carriers and manufacturers about their use of Carrier IQ's software.
Following an inquiry to Carrier IQ itself last week, Minnesota Senator Al Franken is reportedly asking four wireless carriers and hardware makers to explain in full detail about the information they may gather using the software, and how that data may be used and shared. Recipients of the letter include AT&T, Sprint Nextel, HTC and Samsung.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Senator has presented 13 questions to the four companies that request details about specific phone usage and how they are tracked and shared. These include possibly tracking the location of the person even if they haven't given permission, the time owners turn their phones on and off, the numbers dialed on their phone, contents of texts and email messages, and more.
"This information appears to be logged in a manner undetectable by the average consumer," Franken wrote to the four companies. "It also appears that when a consumer does become aware of this activity, he or she has no reasonable means to stop it."
Despite prior reports that label Carrier IQ's software as a rootkit or keylogger, various independent tests have shown no signs of foul play when using a copy of Carrier IQ straight from the source. However the company admits that the software can be configured to record and transmit lists of sites consumers visit as well as the apps they use. Sprint Nextel has even admitted that it collects and uses the data even if a Sprint device isn't activated on the network.
"[T]o analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service," the company said in a statement. "We also use the data to understand device performance so we can figure out when issues are occurring. We collect enough information to understand the customer experience with devices on our network and how to address any connection problems, but we do not and cannot look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc. using this tool."
HTC, on the other hand, has instructed users of its handsets to question their wireless carriers about the information they may be gathering. "HTC is not a customer or partner of Carrier IQ and does not receive data from the application, the company, or carriers that partner with Carrier IQ," HTC said. "HTC is investigating the option to allow consumers to opt-out of data collection by the Carrier IQ application."
Chris Soghoian, computer expert and graduate of Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity, claims that the Carrier IQ software is indeed recording everything users are doing on their device, and that the pool of information it collects could be a gold mine for hackers. "[But] there is nothing to suggest that this data being captured is being transmitted back to the wireless companies," he admitted, adding that transmission is technically possible.
That said, the Senator is citing possible federal privacy law violations in his letter, and is giving Sprint, HTC, AT&T and Samsung until December 14 to reply to respond.
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This is the same guy that is for net neutrality and the Patriot Act. He is nothing but another hypocritical ruler.
Asked why he wrote the letters, Sen. Al Franken had this to say
I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.
I would not have anything against CarrierIQ's methods if there was an easy and transparent way about doing it, along with an opt-in (not an opt-out) for such "services" and a way to disable/uninstall the service should I ever change my mind about it.
The way this was implemented was a total failure and the carriers that did it deserve to be sacked, along with the maker of the software.
I always use plain vanilla Android ROMs on my phones, and I do not have this parasite on any of them, but if I did, I would very pissed about it. I hope this is going to cost CarrierIQ more money than it ever made by selling this shoddy product.
Asked why he wrote the letters, Sen. Al Franken had this to sayI'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.
Yeah, really. Can you believe that ass-clown is a US Senator?! I mean, to be sure, I'm sick of all the lawyers and their ilk in public office; but I think we could do better than this buffoon!
This guy is a joke. stole the election and you give him credibility by putting up a story by him.
Someone should write a simple app that would spam carrier iq with "f*ck u" repeatedly from all the billions of devices simutaniously and continuesly. I am just surprised no other senators are looking into the matter. But perhapse other senators dont have anything nasty to hide.
This is the same guy that is for net neutrality and the Patriot Act. He is nothing but another hypocritical ruler.
You would have to be a idiot, or a corporate drone, to not be for net neutrality.
You would have to be a idiot, or a corporate drone, to not be for net neutrality.
Actually, I am for property rights, negative rights and against regulatory capture. You have to be an idiot for use of ad hominem and your use of commas.
If the lawmakers want to protect us from practices like that, they should pass a new law that says that if a carrier has done anything - and i mean ANYTHING - on their hardware or software that is not written in the agreement that is signed by the customer (i.e. "we might spy on you") and so the customer is not aware of it to begin with, then the carrier should be, of course, punished and also, return every single penny the customer has payed up to that point in his contract, since the terms were not followed by the company.
I'm sick of people always being the victims of "security measures", scrutinized and humiliated by authorities and at the same time noone paying attention to organizations that really do have the power to do major damage to our society.
If the lawmakers want to protect us from practices like that, they should pass a new law that says that if a carrier has done anything - and i mean ANYTHING - on their hardware or software that is not written in the agreement that is signed by the customer (i.e. "we might spy on you") and so the customer is not aware of it to begin with, then the carrier should be, of course, punished and also, return every single penny the customer has payed up to that point in his contract, since the terms were not followed by the company.I'm sick of people always being the victims of "security measures", scrutinized and humiliated by authorities and at the same time noone paying attention to organizations that really do have the power to do major damage to our society.
Truer words have never been spoken.
how about the networks use their own in house software to collect anonymous data to be used to help benchmark their user's experience rather than relying on a 3rd party application with apparently does not sit well with the user, and can apparently be used in bad ways.
Just another politician milking the situation for his benefit. Get lost loser we know you are no better than any of your corrupt tax-wasting buddies.
You would have to be a idiot, or a corporate drone, to not be for net neutrality.
Same as you have to be an idiot if you actually believe that net neutrality will protect you from anything... if you would have actually read the final amended version you would have realized that - it's useless at this point, all big cell carrier companies and their lobbyists put loopholes through it like no tomorrow, it holds no real benefit to consumers anymore. Lobbyists don't sleep.
The real problem with this software is that while the carriers may profess to choose not to use CarrierIQ to retrieve any customers' data, who is to say that one bad seed employee with a carrier, who happens to have access to the software controls and uploads, won't use it to do anything he chooses with impugnity? All they would have to do is send a brief update that downloaded a bit of listener and control software to the phone (which is probably already there to begin with, btw), and it's peeping tom heaven.
Remember that Pennsylvania school that used iMacs to record video of high school students in their homes, without their knowledge? Yeah, the one where the head of IT was bragging about her ability to see pics of the students. That one.
Got tape over your phone camera yet?
Whether Carrier IQ trasnmitted or even saved the data doesn't reaaly matter. The fact that they had a keylogger that was capable of capturing SSL encrypted data such as passwords and credit card numbers means that they should fry. This just adds a gaping vulnerability that any hacker and his mother will be salivating over.
Yeah, really. Can you believe that ass-clown is a US Senator?! I mean, to be sure, I'm sick of all the lawyers and their ilk in public office; but I think we could do better than this buffoon!
This is a board for intelligent people, you so-called "conservatives" should go elsewhere.
Where's the "DUH"? Of course they're 'snooping' info; how else would they know the traffic conditions on virtually ANY road? Providers can know the location and traffic-speed, and the the road's traffic density based on their subscribers' location; In the case of AT&T, that data gets fed back to Google for their traffic-function. Stored with Google as "anonymous" data.... Yeah, right.. Gov conspiracy? No, it's just a Google thing.
I've always felt that tel-com companies are criminal organizations.
Constantly "double dipping" (both parties get charged for text-messaging and calls)
The gratuitous "1-second" compensation (being charged 2 minutes for a 61-second call)
"Send-to-End" charges 1-minute, even if the call is interrupted before the destination answers
BTW, you 99% - who provided you with your worshipped apple products and iPhones (or Android)? Google/Apple/AT&T(largely)
For the people denigrating Al Franken as an 'ass clown' and comedian (which i think he would actually like), here's a piece of his bio:
Franken graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. cum laude in 1973 in political science.[9]
If the lawmakers want to protect us from practices like that, they should pass a new law that says that if a carrier has done anything - and i mean ANYTHING - on their hardware or software that is not written in the agreement that is signed by the customer (i.e. "we might spy on you") and so the customer is not aware of it to begin with, then the carrier should be, of course, punished and also, return every single penny the customer has payed up to that point in his contract, since the terms were not followed by the company.I'm sick of people always being the victims of "security measures", scrutinized and humiliated by authorities and at the same time noone paying attention to organizations that really do have the power to do major damage to our society.
Figure they've been doing it since ever. It's not something that begun with IQ. Proving whether they sell the data or not is out of our hands because they don't really need that crapware installed to gather all data they'll ever want. Then how is one to prove in court it actually happened? What's the point of legislation that may not be enforced?