Carrier IQ: Your phone's secret recording device

By David Goldman @CNNMoneyTech December 1, 2011: 6:28 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Carrier IQ is a piece of software installed on millions of mobile phones that logs everything their users do, from what websites they browse to what their text messages say.

No, it's not part of some great Orwellian plot; it's a diagnostic tool that carriers say plays a crucial role in helping them assess and troubleshoot their networks. But the recording app, which flew under the radar for years until security researchers drew attention to it recently, is setting off red-alert privacy and security alarms.

It's also spotlighting how little customers -- and, sometimes, the carriers and manufacturers themselves -- know about what goes on under the hood of their data-stuffed mobile devices.

Reports about Carrier IQ's hair-raisingly detailed tracking capabilities began swirling in the tech press several months ago and gained steam after Android developer Trevor Eckhart posted an analysis of the software's data logs.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/01/technology/carrier_iq/index.htm?hpt=hp_c1

Truly frightening.

so its a laptop after all.

welp, looks like gold-diggers of the world have a new tool at their disposal.

yikes. not okay

As long as no one's stealing from my bank account or trying to snatch my kid (which'll get somebody cut real fast ), I don't think I care too much. I've got nothing to hide.

Lammastide said:

As long as no one's stealing from my bank account or trying to snatch my kid (which'll get somebody cut real fast ), I don't think I care too much. I've got nothing to hide.

Until you text something like "my friend Fred Muhammad" and they throw your ass in Guantanamo because your friend has the same name as a suspected "terrorist."

I hope they enjoy the raunchy shit I send and receive

PunkMistress said:

Lammastide said:

As long as no one's stealing from my bank account or trying to snatch my kid (which'll get somebody cut real fast ), I don't think I care too much. I've got nothing to hide.

Until you text something like "my friend Fred Muhammad" and they throw your ass in Guantanamo because your friend has the same name as a suspected "terrorist."

Granted.