Carrier IQ has been identified as "root-kit"
software that is installed on countless devices and sits in the background
cataloging actions such as keystrokes and app activity. It has been found on
numerous Android smart phones and even traces of it have shown up in iOS.
Apparently Google's own line of Nexus devices
.RIM also did not develop or
commission the development of the Carrier IQ application and has no involvement
in the testing, promotion, or distribution of the app. RIM to the list of
companies denying use of Carrier IQ on their smart phones, as the Canadian
company has released a statement on the matter saying RIM is aware of a recent
claim by a security researcher that an application called 'Carrier IQ' is
installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or
consent of the device users. RIM does not pre-install the Carrier IQ app on
Blackberry smart phones or authorize its carrier partners to install the Carrier
IQ app before sales or distribution. Eckhart said the software created by
company Carrier IQ and installed on devices by phone manufacturers and carriers
was secretly recording user data such as keystrokes and Web browsing history.
Carrier IQ's software is on more than 140 million handsets worldwide. In
principle, technology like this could be highly beneficial to both networks and
users, but by crossing the line of what is deemed as acceptable by the privacy
lobby Carrier IQ has run into problems said Ben Wood research director at
CCS Insight.
The Carrier IQ software that supposedly logs
all of a user's actions on a smart phone and provides the data to carriers has
been in the news the past few days over concerns that it violates users privacy.
In light of this a number of carriers and manufacturers have stepped forward to
say that they do not use the software on any of their devices.