If you're using a smartphone, you probably have quite a bit of personal information on it. Your phone may contain user names, passwords and account information. Personal photos. Financial information. Your phone also knows where you are, who you are calling and where you are browsing.
With so much personal information on today's phones, it's no surprise that many people are upset to discover that tens of millions of phones have a hidden piece of software that is capable of monitoring everything you do on your phone. The software is called Carrier IQ. You don't know it's there. You won't see it in your list if running applications. But this piece of software has permission to capture every text message, every phone call, and every keystroke you enter - and it does. What it does with that information, nobody is quite sure yet.
Though the company claims to only use this information to improve the quality of your phone experience, there is evidence that they have the ability to pull in data from individual phones. And there is little you can to to prevent it, and no way for you to know if they have done so. Advanced users can, on some phones, remove the software - but it doing so you also probably void your phone warranty.
There are some actions you can take:
- Call your cell phone carrier and find out if your phone has Carrier IQ installed on it.
- Contact your congressmember and ask them what they are doing to protect your privacy - there have already been experts suggesting that the collection of this data represents an illegal form of wiretapping.
- Find out more by reading Travor Eckhart's article on Carrier IQ.
- Watch the video demonstrating the information that is captured by this program.
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