Jobs was right: Android tracks everything
Millions of smartphones, including not just Android but also Research in Motion and Nokia devices, come with Carrier IQ installed which logs and transmits user actions, from secure HTTPS searches to numbers dialed. Yeah, it really is that bad and the scumbags even tried to muzzle the whistle blower.
Earlier this year Apple was on the receiving end of a lot of grief for Locationgate. At the time Steve Jobs stated categorically that Apple wasn’t tracking anyone, which turned out to be true, and made the bold claim that Android devices log and track everything.
Now, we have confirmation that Jobs was right — presented in video form by Trevor Eckhart, the person who discovered Carrier IQ’s malevolent presence and its nefarious purpose.
“Every button you press in the dialer before you call,” says the Android developer who likes HTC phones, “it already gets sent off to the IQ application.”
Eckhart describes Carrier IQ as a root kit and, given the what it does, the label seems accurate. That is, malware that insinuated itself at the same level on an Android, Blackberry or Nokia device without user knowledge while logging and retransmitting the same information would be called a root kit.
It bears repeating that Eckhart went out of his way to opt out of everything and still he found clear evidence that Carrier IQ was logging and transmitting user data.
Other damning revelations include:
- • Even if a user isn’t connected to the carrier’s 3G and using wifi, Carrier IQ still logs and transmits user info
• Users cannot opt out of Carrier IQ
• The only way to turn off Carrier IQ requires rooting the device
• Carrier IQ threatened to sue Eckhart to muzzle him
— The Electronic Frontier Foundation quashed that
That said, I’ll be greatly surprised if Google, Nokia, Research in Motion and their carrier partners don’t have all sorts of plausible deniability and legal backdoors layered around Carrier IQ, leaving them blameless vis-a-vis the law. Nevertheless, this is serious scumbaggery…
What’s your take?
via Cult of Mac
Related posts:
December 1st, 2011
Not at all surprised. The violators are always the ones who accuse the innocent of doing what they do. The old Soviet Union used to be the very best at this. The Democratic and Republican parties adhere to this practice, too. But the Republicans are too klutzy to be good at it, while the Democrats are smarter and excel.
December 1st, 2011
Lets keep things in perspective – this isn’t on every android, blackberry or win-phone, infact it isn’t part of the vanilla ROMS. Instead it seems to be tied to the operator choosing to install it with their custom roms, and many of them are now coming forward declaring that it isn’t on their issued devices. And Carrier IQ has been found on iOS devices too, so they aren’t immune either. Jobs wasn’t correct afterall.
December 1st, 2011
rimmer,
the only iPhone that i’ll heard of with a Carrier IQ is a ‘jailbroke’ phone…