Spyware on many smart phones monitors your every action, including collecting individual keystrokes. The company that makes and runs this software on behalf of different carriers, Carrier IQ, freaked when a security researcher outed them. It initially claimed it didn't monitor keystrokes -- an easily refuted lie -- and threatened to sue the researcher. It took EFF getting involved to get the company to back down.
Carrier IQ is reacting really badly here. Threatening the researcher was a panic reaction, but I think it's still clinging to the notion that it can keep the details of what it does secret, or hide behind marketing statements and hair-splitting denials.
Several things matter here:
- what data the Carrier IQ app collects on the handset
- what data the Carrier IQ app routinely transmits to the carriers
- what data can the Carrier IQ app transmit to the carrier if asked.
Can the carrier enable the logging of everything in response to a request from the FBI? We have no idea.
Expect this story to unfold considerably in the coming weeks. Everyone is pointing fingers of blame at everyone else, and Sen. Franken has asked the various companies involved for details.
One more detail is worth mentioning. Apple announced it no longer uses Carrier IQ in iOS5. I'm sure this means that they have their own surveillance software running, not that they're no longer conducting surveillance on their users.
By Bruce Schneier
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