Google Denies Carrier IQ Usage; Apple Says It's Axed the Software
More news on the Carrier IQ front. Google has come forth to deny that it authorizes Carrier IQ on any of its Android handsets and Apple says it once supported the software but doesn't anymore. And, when it did, the data tracking was opt-in and completely encrypted and anonymous, according to an official statement that the company released.
We stopped supporting CarrierIQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.
BlackBerry manufacturer RIM also affirms it doesn't authorize Carrier IQ, and major Canadian carriers Rogers and Telus claim they do not use the software. Interestingly, though, it's not all denial in America. U.S. carrier Sprint has admitted to receiving data from Carrer IQ and so has AT&T—two of the country's largest wireless providers. Naturally, they insist the software isn't for tracking customers, but rather things like "network management."
Something tells me we've only just begun scratching the surface.
