In a recent hearing before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Al Franken reminded his fellow
Americans, “People have a fundamental right to control their private
information.” At the hearing, Franken raised an alarm about Carrier
IQ’s software, CIQ.
Few people
have ever heard about CIQ. Running under the app functions, CIQ doesn't
require the user’s consent (or knowledge) to operate. On Android phones,
it can track a user’s keystrokes, record telephone calls, store text
messages, track location and more. Most troubling, it is difficult to
impossible to disable.
Carrier
IQ, located in Mountain View, CA, was founded in 2005 and is backed by a
group of venture capitalists. Its software is installed on about 150
million wireless devices offered through AT&T, HTC, Nokia, RIM
(BlackBerry), Samsung, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. It runs on a
variety of operating systems, including the Apple OS and Google’s
Android (but not on Microsoft Windows).
At
the hearing, Sen. Franken questioned FBI director Robert Muller about
the FBI’s use of CIQ software. Muller assured the senator that FBI
agents “neither sought nor obtained any information” from Carrier IQ.
Following
Muller’s Senate testimony, Andrew Coward, Carrier IQ’s VP of marketing,
told the Associated Press that the FBI is the only law enforcement
agency to contact them for data. The FBI has yet to issue a follow-up
“clarification.” READ MORE
No comments:
Post a Comment