Carrier IQ or CIQ What you NEED TO KNOW!

If you haven’t heard or haven’t taken the time to do some digging CIQ is a major problem plaguing  Android users who have not rooted and installed a custom ROM, CM7 or MIUI. I’ve finally had time to look into it and am shocked by the blatant disregard for privacy. I am having a hard time believing that it’s Carriers who’ve propagated this technology and not something more sinister like the Patriot Act or something. (No proof speculation) Now, the number one thing I look for when I’m browsing custom ROMs. Has CIQ been fully removed?

Carrier IQ is a company who has developed a set of programs that run in the background on your phone. They are not able to be killed and have the ability to record everything you do on your phone. E V E R Y T H I N G! Even websites that are HTTPS and accessed over wifi.

Thank you Trevor Eckhart for making this video to expose what Carrier IQ doesn’t want shown!

What really cooks my goose is that Carrier IQ even brags about the number of devices they have their software on. As of this draft the number on their ticker is 141,277,255 and only continues to rise. Lets put this in perspective shall we. Acording to the US POPClock Projection the USA has about 312,695,679 people in it. So about 45% of the United States population is being spied on by Carrier IQ and it’s customers. Obviously this looks very bad for Carrier IQ and they have published a statement regarding CIQ’s use by their customers. (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verison, and Sprint; I’m sure there’s more but these are probably the top four. Again I don’t have hard proof on any of these except for Sprint as Sprint is featured in the video above.)

Mountain View, CA – November 16, 2011 –

Carrier IQ would like to clarify some recent press on how our product is used and the information that is gathered from smartphones and mobile devices. Carrier IQ delivers Mobile Intelligence on the performance of mobile devices and networks to assist operators and device manufacturers in delivering high quality products and services to their customers. We do this by counting and measuring operational information in mobile devices – feature phones, smartphones and tablets. This information is used by our customers as a mission critical tool to improve the quality of the network, understand device issues and ultimately improve the user experience. Our software is embedded by device manufacturers along with other diagnostic tools and software prior to shipment.

While we look at many aspects of a device’s performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes or providing tracking tools. The metrics and tools we derive are not designed to deliver such information, nor do we have any intention of developing such tools. The information gathered by Carrier IQ is done so for the exclusive use of that customer, and Carrier IQ does not sell personal subscriber information to 3 rd parties. The information derived from devices is encrypted and secured within our customer’s network or in our audited and customer-approved facilities.

Our customers have stringent policies and obligations on data collection and retention. Each customer is different and our technology is customized to their exacting needs and legal requirements. Carrier IQ enables a measurable impact on improving the quality and experience of our customers’ mobile networks and devices. Our business model and technology aligns exclusively with this goal.

Personally I don’t care what they say they use our information for. They didn’t ask for permission to read all of my key-strokes, text messages and web history. Which makes this next statement a flat out lie!

When Carrier IQ’s products are deployed, data gathering is done in a way where the end user is informed or involved.

Obviously I’m outraged at the blatant disregard for our privacy. I assume it’s not limited to Android. iOS users have probably not even put any thought into the fact that their data is probably being phished the same way as ours (speculation). In the end it’s just another reason to root your device and install custom ROMs. If you want to see what Carrier IQ is nabbing off your phone head to this XDA thread to get the app that exposes it.