Unprecedented level of spying on consumers using Android smart phones

[gravenewworld]

Your Smartphone Is Spying on You - Yahoo! News

The First Signs of Mutiny in the Android Brigade - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

An Android developer recently discovered a clandestine application called Carrier IQ built into most smartphones that doesn't just track your location; it secretly records your keystrokes, and there's nothing you can do about it. Is it time to put on a tinfoil hat? That depends on how you feel about privacy.
[Related: Facebook and Google Join Forces to Oppose Privacy Bill]
The reason for this invasive Android app seems reasonable enough at face value. Even though it's on most Android, BlackBerry and Nokia devices, most users would never know that Carrier IQ is running in the background, and that's sort of the point. Described on the company's website as software to gain "unprecedented insight into their customers' mobile experience," Carrier IQ is ostensibly supposed to help mobile carriers and device manufacturers gather data in order to improve their products.
Tons of applications do this, and you're probably used to those boxes that pops up on your screen and ask if you want to help the company by sending your data back to them. If you're concerned about your privacy, you just tap no and go about your merry computing way. As security-conscious Android developer Trevor Eckhart realized, however, Carrier IQ does not give you this option, and unless you were code-savvy and looking for it, you'd never know it was there. And based on how aggressive the company has been in trying to keep Eckhart quiet about his discovery, it seems like Carrier IQ doesn't want you to know it's there either.

[max1]

This sucks, I bought mine because it was "Open Source" based and since I had grown up around "open source" folks I figgered it would be a better OS.

there is an update:

"
Update: Grant Paul has since published a blog post detailing everything he has discovered about Carrier IQ so far. He confirms that it is present on iOS versions 3 to 5 and does indeed seem to be logging the user’s details (such as their phone number, carrier and country) and GPS-based location (when location services are enabled).
Although he found various checks within the system that are supposed to prevent logging of data unless diagnostic logging is enabled on the device, he also saw logs in all three iOS devices he tested, despite his never having enabled the logging.
However, he is pretty certain that the tracking software does not have enough access to the system to be able to log your keystrokes, so it is not tracking the numbers you dial or text messages you send. He is also not certain how much of this data is sent to remote servers, if any at all, although he says that any data that is sent is sent over a secure SSL connection.
He ends on the note that the amount of data the software is logging, at least according to what he has been able to uncover so far, is harmless enough that he would not mind sharing it for analytical or diagnostic purposes, but “would definitely prefer if it was more transparent”.


Traces of Carrier IQ Found on iOS

[gravenewworld]

Yes, it is now confirmed that CIQ is also present on Iphones. Watch the youtube vid from the kid who discovered it. It is quite scary:

Carrier IQ Part #2 - YouTube

[max1]

I watched it, I just wonder if it can be removed? When you jail break a phone does it install a new OS?

[longnecker]

I'm so glad I have a very old fashioned cell phone.

[max1]

Can ya hear me now???

[gravenewworld]

If you go to the blog of the kid who discovered it, he tells you how to remove it. It is not easy. I believe it will also void your warranty. Funny how sprint att and Verizon feel they have the right to know what you are doing on your phone even when you are not connected to their network and but your own home widow network.

[Kid Lester]

"Where is Jeff Spicoli? I saw him earlier today, near the first floor bathrooms, is he still on campus? Anyone?"