Carrier IQ Controversy - *everything* you do on your phone might be getting logged.

[Murley]

A piece of software has recently been discovered in 141 million phones which is logging everything you do. Key presses, SMS content, web searches, HTTPS encrypted data, the lot, and sending this information ... somewhere.

It affects a lot of Android and Blackberry devices mainly and to an extent, iOS. The iOS version doesn't send any data by default and logs less data than the other two platforms but either way, to a lot of people, this could be of concern and as far as I'm aware this is completely illegal. If you're running a custom ROM on Android you're also safe. Seems to be something carriers are doing with their special firmware concoctions.

Not sure what those Blackberry types are gonna do about

Here's some information on it and there's heaps on the net about it now: Carrier IQ tracking on Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, and more: the story so far | The Verge

Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17XQI_AYNo

[I Fancy Holidays]

/tinfoilhat

[Professor Redfern]

Pffft who cares PSB have been doing this for years.

[Harro]

Poor kents, I lead an incredibly boring and mundane life.

It makes me feel damned good that some poor schmuck has to waste his life following my life around.

Suck shit!

[lee]

Poor kents, I lead an incredibly boring and mundane life.

It makes me feel damned good that some poor schmuck has to waste his life following my life around.

Suck shit!

They're not specifically following people, moreso counting metrics from all the people who's phones are reporting on how many people go the long way to get to settings instead of creating a shortcut, how many people visit certain pages, what they search for, what stores they go to, etc etc.

I guess the scary thing is though that if they wanted to, they could let your healthcare insurer know how many times a week you go through the maccas drive through. Alternatively in court they could disclose information on your whereabouts or SMS admissions of guilt etc.

[96]

crafty fuckers arent they....

[Harro]

They're not specifically following people, moreso counting metrics from all the people who's phones are reporting on how many people go the long way to get to settings instead of creating a shortcut, how many people visit certain pages, what they search for, what stores they go to, etc etc.

Heh, I know this - it funnily enough helps to build better operating systems, it just gives me a kick to imagine some poor dunce getting paid a pittance to trawl through my rubbish data.

I guess the scary thing is though that if they wanted to, they could let your healthcare insurer know how many times a week you go through the maccas drive through. Alternatively in court they could disclose information on your whereabouts or SMS admissions of guilt etc.

Now that is scary - but with the invasion of privacy laws I doubt it would be admissable in court. Well, not yet anyway.

[Murley]

For the record I don't think this is *that* big a deal (it's been a long time since I've organised any terrorist attacks using my phone) but I do find it interesting exactly how much is recorded and that it remained under the radar for so long. Most worryingly is that it bypasses the "security" of https. Someone is bound to sue. Popcorn.

[r0gue]

Seems to be a lot of confusion over it still.
There now saying it does not log keystrokes, and that it may be a huge over reaction.

"Security researcher Dan Rosenberg posted a note saying that he's reverse-engineered Carrier IQ and found "no evidence that they are collecting anything more than what they've publicly claimed: anonymized metrics data." There's "no code in CarrierIQ that actually records keystrokes for data collection purposes," he said."

Carrier IQ: More privacy alarms, more confusion | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

[r0gue]

What does Carrier IQ do on my phone--and should I care? (FAQ) | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

[lee]

I don't really care nearly as much that it's sent out, as much as I do the fact it's written to a log somewhere on your phone. I can't think of one solid reason for it to log everything you do, and it just means if the wrong people wanted to know a whole lot more about me, all they'd have to do is get access to my phone and have the right know-how (bluetooth, wifi, over the carrier networks, via a dodgy app). The fact that they may be farming some of that data is a whole other level of icky.

[Murley]

If it's to analyse and improve network performance I don't understand why the program needs to be on the phone. It runs even without network access - why don't the network servers just analyse the data received from the devices under normal usage? That really should be enough information for their purposes (i.e. the volume and type of network access actually being used). That seems to me to make more sense than embedding this stuff into every device.

[r0gue]

If they let users know, and gave them the chance to opt in if they want too, then that is fine.
It is the whole secrecy thing over it i do not like.

[Harro]

If it's to analyse and improve network performance I don't understand why the program needs to be on the phone. It runs even without network access - why don't the network servers just analyse the data received from the devices under normal usage? That really should be enough information for their purposes (i.e. the volume and type of network access actually being used). That seems to me to make more sense than embedding this stuff into every device.

I don't think its to improve network performance, more to idnetify and improve the operating systems of the phones...

I know that when I fired up my new phone, there are mulitple times when it asks if I mind having information on what I do with the phone recorded and sent off to both HTC and Google, for the purpose of inproving the phone. I dont mind - anything they do to make a better, more user friendly operating system, then I'm all for it.

[lee]

If it's to analyse and improve network performance I don't understand why the program needs to be on the phone. It runs even without network access - why don't the network servers just analyse the data received from the devices under normal usage? That really should be enough information for their purposes (i.e. the volume and type of network access actually being used). That seems to me to make more sense than embedding this stuff into every device.

One of their PR moves is that you can highlight via this data what locations people with what phones have poo reception, because it logs all of that and sends it when it has sufficient bandwidth. Again, opt-in, and stripped of personal info I don't have an issue with that, but quite clearly they're logging just about everything.

[devolved]

Except when I lock myself naked in the cupboard under some tin foil - these days I have to presume that most everything I say and do is in someway being tracked/recorded/blah blah blah.

There is no way out of this now. Nothing can stop this. Just try not to do anything that the government won't like and you'll be fine (probably)....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU

[snowman95]

Doesn't apply in australia

BUSTED TWO: Carrier IQ monitor-ware on iPhones too? ? The Register

The row has Australian carriers putting as much distance between themselves and Carrier IQ as they can, as quickly as they can. Telstra’s Craig Middleton hit the Twittersphere today: “Telstra does not use it. We only use customer data for connecting calls and billing for services”.
The carrier’s New Zealand subsidiary Telstra Clear made a similar, but shorter statement.
Wrapping up the Australian carrier scene, both Optus and Vodafone told News.com.au that Carrier IQ’s software isn’t in use in this country; Vodafone has made the same statement for New Zealand, as has Telecom New Zealand. ®

[r0gue]

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging | Privacy Inc. - CNET News

[McGoo]

Australian Telcos: "No we don't log everything you do..." *waves hands*

[thro]

/tinfoilhat

And this is how they get away with this shit.

Anyone who questions stuff gets branded a tinfoil wearing homo and the powers that be just keep fucking everyone over.