If this video holds water, consider the game changed. By Professor Ohm’s argument, the people wiretapped includes every single Android user on carriers that do business with Carrier IQ. As of yet I don’t have a complete list of affected carriers and models, but that number still has to register pretty high. After the class action lawsuits all hit and the smoke clears, maybe then we’ll be able to have some sort of serious discussion in this country on the internet and cellular networks at large, specifically concerning user privacy in the digital age. People do a lot of stuff on mobile – important password protected stuff – now that we have these super fast 4G speeds mobile carriers are all-to-quick to advertise. That only bolsters the point that privacy is the single greatest challenge we have to solve with current technology.
So even if Carrier IQ only uses the information for aggregate reporting and even if Sprint does actually only use it for diagnostic purposes without any malicious endgame, what happens when someone that does have less than noble intentions figures out how to control it? There goes your money. There goes your credit. There goes your reputation. There’s just too much at risk.
Article comments
1 - Roger White
The responsibility should also lie with the mobile phone companies. They are at the end, the ones installing these things on their product. You would think that, since they are the technology we are talking about, would test the software before buying into it.
And if they did and thought that this was ok, then we should look closer at those companies too not only CarrierIQ.
2 - tushar nene
they did and thought it was ok. as a result the lawsuits are rolling out and even the Senate is demanding answers.