“Following a formal petition from Senator Al Franken to handset makers and carriers in early December regarding their use of the Carrier IQ tracking app, AT&T, HTC, Samsung and Sprint have all submitted responses,” Electonista reports.
“Franken had written to the companies concerned that the Carrier IQ software pre-loaded on certain phones was a threat to user privacy,” Electonista reports. “Although each party offered up a range of responses to the 13 questions Franken had asked, Franken still had a number of concerns arising out of the information he was provided… Franken said ‘The average user of any device equipped with Carrier IQ software has no way of knowing that this software is running, what information it is getting, and who it is giving it to-and that’s a problem.’ Although not stating that he had more questions, it is likely that Franken will continue to pursue the matter until he is satisfied that the public is safe from being tracked without explicit permission being asked and given.””
Electonista reports, “AT&T’s response said that its use of the Carrier IQ software is primarily designed so that it can “collect diagnostic information about its network.” The company also listed for the first time all the handsets in its lineup that carries the tracking app [no iPhone – MDN Ed.]… It currently has 575,000 devices currently sending data using Carrier IQ out of 900,000 with the app installed on it. Sprint’s response revealed that it as many as 26 million devices running Carrier IQ [no iPhone – MDN Ed.].”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
U.S. Senator Al Franken presses wireless companies and hardware makers for Carrier IQ answers – December 5, 2011
Apple, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile USA sued over alleged Carrier IQ use – December 5, 2011
Phone ‘rootkit’ maker Carrier IQ may have violated U.S. federal wiretap law in millions of cases – December 4, 2011
Carrier IQ is misunderstood, not evil – December 3, 2011
U.S. Congress Democrat Markey calls for FTC investigation of Carrier IQ software – December 3, 2011
Apple will remove Carrier IQ; how to block it on your iPhone now – December 2, 2011
U.S. Senator Al Franken wants answers from companies who install Carrier IQ software on smartphones – December 1, 2011
Senator Al Franken! Paging Senator Al Franken! – December 1, 2011
Video shows secret software on millions of Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia phones logging everything you do – November 30, 2011