“AT&T Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., Apple Inc. and T-Mobile USA were sued by mobile phone customers who claim that Carrier IQ Inc. tracking software installed on their phones violates U.S. wiretapping and computer fraud laws,” Karen Gullo reports for Bloomberg.
“Four consumers filed a complaint yesterday in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, seeking to block the carriers and phone makers from using the software,” Gullo reports. “Carrier IQ software logs user activity and runs in the background of mobile devices. After the YouTube report, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee contacted the company seeking information and alleging that the software may violate federal privacy laws, according to a copy of the complaint supplied by David Straite, an attorney for the plaintiffs.”
Gullo reports, “The customers who sued seek compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of all others whose devices contain the so- called rootkit software from Mountain View, California-based Carrier IQ, which is also named as a defendant in the suit… Violations of the federal wiretap laws, which prohibit willful interception of wire or electronic communication, can result in damages of $100 a day per violation, according to the complaint.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It seems like quite the stretch to include Apple since users of Apple products had to expressly approve sharing their info. In other words, Apple device users didn’t need a court to block the use of the software, their device came with it “blocked” and, even if they had enabled it, users always had the ability to turn it off at will.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Apple will remove Carrier IQ; how to block it on your iPhone now – December 2, 2011
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