AT&T Says Customers Agreed to Carrier IQ Software
Linked by Howard Fosdick on Sun 18th Dec 2011 05:12 UTC
Bugs & Viruses AT&T has told the U.S. Congress that its customers agreed to host Carrier IQ tracking software on their cellphones in their contracts. You might recall that, after the scandal over warrentless surveillance broke in 2006, AT&T quietly changed their contract for internet service to say that it -- not its customers -- owns all the customers' internet records. Those concerned about privacy might consider whether AT&T merits their trust.
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RE[4]: Cancel your service
by kokara4a on Mon 19th Dec 2011 08:11 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: Cancel your service"
kokara4a
Member since:
2005-09-16

they COULD collect this information on the back end only, (which they do as a side effect of providing those services), but they get better data about the performance of their network by tracking that on the handset.


Would you care to clarify how doing it on the handheld yields better data? After all, every bit of data passes the provider's network so all QoS metrics can be extracted from there. I would even assume that you can get more detailed information from the backbone equipment.

So......WTF is the big deal? don't like having someone else know what you are doing? then stop using a cell phone service, and, for good measure, end your ISP service, turn in your library card, and stop buying items on credit/debit.


Collecting information about your actions should only be used to enhance the service you are paying for. It should never be turned into a product that is sold to other companies.

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