Carrier IQ: How to Stop Android from Spying on You

Jeff Koenig · The Ohio State University
I would urge everyone to contact your state representative and ask for a federal investigation. I have already done so.

Rich Wang · Subscribe · Top Commenter · San Francisco, California
About two hours ago Senator Al Franken sent their CEO a letter asking for an explanation... http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/12/01/carrier_iq_data_logging_controversy_prompts_scrutiny_from_us_senate.html

John Fernandez
I love how the article forgets the fact that this ANDROID specific rootkit/spyware. it is not on windows phone 7 devices nor is it on the iphone 4s.

Harshad Srinivasan · Subscribe · Raleigh, North Carolina
I like how John Fernandez forgets that he should actually read the article before commenting....

Max Woolf · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Carnegie Mellon University · 523 subscribers
Does Carrier IQ follow a Normal distribution?

David Abraham · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Works at DFMedia Studios
I lol'd in my mouth :)

John Biggs · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Gadgets Editor at TechCrunch
dude. seriously. you're like my grandpa coming into the room telling jokes from old Henry comic strips.

Max Woolf · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Carnegie Mellon University · 523 subscribers
John Biggs, I am your grandfather.

Bud Fallbrook · Subscribe
Stories like this one make me glad I'm fictional.

Tim Payne · Belmont, California
Way bigger story. http://wikileaks.org/the-spyfiles.html

Aleksey Korzun · Subscribe · Top Commenter
It's amusing to see a bunch of idiots jumping on this story because some self proclaimed security researcher / Devry drop-out posted a video of.... umm application logging events on the phone. Please learn a thing or two about these types of metrics before spewing garbage.

Dave McClure
Einstein was a drop out too

Andrus Pappas · Top Commenter · Bishop Gorman High School
Dave McClure And so were Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Dave McClure
Good point Andrus, a degree is by no means a measure of ones intelligence, look at our politicians!

Kyle Sexson · Garden City, Kansas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmv8quf_xM&feature=related Every time I hear about a 'security expert' with no notable credentials.

Mitchell Pearson · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Queensland Tech
Hah, thanks for sharing.

Sean Rawles · Subscribe · Tulsa, Oklahoma
Reading comments about the app means that some devices will completely BRICK upon installation and removal of ICQ. careful...

Ryan Takahashi · Top Commenter · Works at Youngevity
Why does removing a chat client brick my phone?

Sean Rawles · Subscribe · Tulsa, Oklahoma
Ryan Takahashi DERP! Sorry, I meant CIQ :D

Ryan Takahashi · Top Commenter · Works at Youngevity
Sean Rawles This is how you tell who has been using the internet for a long time. ;)

Ricardo Solon · Top Commenter
gosh... time for a linux for mobile.... seriously...this is ridiculous.... Of course they were planning to tell the world about their super app in a near future...

Justin Card · Subscribe · Top Commenter
Umm, Android is Linux for mobile.

Ricardo Solon · Top Commenter
Justin Card yeah it is but some carriers add so much stuff on top of it that they transform the OS into something very different....can they just give me Android not their version of android ...

Marat Sharipov · Top Commenter
Ricardo Solon You can give yourself Android http://www.cyanogenmod.com/devices

Justin Card · Subscribe · Top Commenter
CyanogenMod is probably the worst ROM for beginners, unless they're planning to activate a stolen Verizon device at a Cricket store, then it's the required ROM for beginners.

Graham Neray · Brown
I can't download Eckhart’s logging test app on my old school motorola droid. anyone have any suggestions?

Chris Velazco · Subscribe · Top Commenter · Writer at TechCrunch
What happens when you try to download?

Matt Fuller · Subscribe · RIT
The original Droid isn't going to have CarrierIQ. It has stock Android so you wouldn't see anything anyway.

Graham Neray · Brown
Matt Fuller Thanks!

Irish Voter · Dj at Irish Republic
I say young fellow here's another thought. Did you know Siri, the Apple voice assistant, is happily accumulating all your voice input for Apple to analyze? Rather!

Ruslan Fromrussia
Plus it was funded by DARPA (an agency of the United States Department of Defense) via SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Center.

Kevin Hamacek
Isn't it just a little different if it sends something like your bank account# and password information?

Irish Voter · Dj at Irish Republic
Certainly is Kevin. Over time Siri may gather enough data and get smart enough to enable it to profile you vocally, anywhere anytime you are engage in conversation.

Ben Nash · Top Commenter
Can I demand a clean phone from t-mobile?

Ben Nash · Top Commenter
Scott Hild Thanks bro, I appreciate the nice t-mobile customer support. Have a nice day.

Timothy Novak · Works at Stumptown Coffee Roasters
Scott Hild - Sorry to hear that you're a prick about your sad customer service job where everybody hates you.

Andy Gowrley
Looks like this will the subject of one of those news articles "employee types before he thinks and destroys career"..

Brooke Schmid
what if you download this and it puts it on your phone or device. So now not only did you just try to test it as a dry run but you just installed this mal-ware. I have to research this some more to see if I can't find my own loop hole or work around.

Allen Resha · Owner/CEO at Self Employed Entrepreneur
This is just another thing that I think can be solved like the Anti Spam and Do Not Call List. A lot of sites already implement a OPT OUT data logging, but when it comes to your personal or work phone this is a different story. Nobody, even the carrier, should be able to log your actions. I think a lot of this is going on with browsers and web surfing as well. I know that information like this is valuable marketing information, but most times it crosses into the person's personal info and that is unlawful. This doesn't surprise me. I think honestly the cell phone companies should be SHUT DOWN or deregulated! AT&T and Verizon specifically. They utilize their money and Clout to monopolize the market. That isn't good for the economy and it provides less choice for the consumer. It allows them to raise prices and charge for this and that when it isn't necessary. They should instead focus on customers and how they feel. If they would focus on good customer service and implement a good feedback policy with rewards this data mining software wouldn't be necessary!

Davin Studer · Multnomah
Could you not edit the host file on the phone to redirect traffic going to carrieriq ip addresses to 127.0.0.1?

Rob Mugs Hamilton · University of Illinois at Chicago
This whole story reminds me of the "key-logger" on the Predator. 99.99999999% of the population had no idea what that meant and therefore looked at what the media said was the truth.

Just like the Predator fiasco (which, btw, was 100% harmless), the media has blown this way out of proportion.

Kevin Hamacek
Yeah, I am sure it just like Chicago politics. Shady as shit. The fact that it could potentially send secure information to any entity other than whom I thought I was sending it to is a problem period.

Rob Mugs Hamilton · University of Illinois at Chicago
Kevin Hamacek

Look into the actual programming and get back to me. Just like with the Predator, it's harmless. If you don't want your phone sending any data, don't buy a smartphone. Instead, get a pre-paid phone from 7-11 and call it a day.

Kevin Hamacek
Rob Mugs Hamilton Yes, that's the solution. Why didn't I think of that.

Jeff Jennings · Top Commenter
Wow you have to be doing some pretty sketchy things if you still go to all that trouble to get rid of that program. I mean if you are trying to flash your ROM, you're pretty serious about wanting to cover your tracks.

Bill Knaffl
Many people put ROMs on thier devices as a result of the unbelievable BLOATWARE and GARBAGE that the vendors put on the phone and make it "system" so that the end user cannot uninstall it. Just because you use a rom doesnt mean you are shady

Dan Richardson · Multifunctional at Cineworld
Obviously everyone who flashes different roms onto their phone is a heinous criminal

Mark Zachary Simpson · Edinburgh Üniversitesi
I honestly don;t know why they didn't just ask permission. I would have probably accepted without reading the small print. http://goo.gl/iMWL2

Peter Chamberlain
Heh, well Mr. Eckhart just made a couple hundred thousand dollars I would imagine. Selling into paranoia can make a man rich. Getting the media to fuel that paranoia is icing on the cake.

(former duct tape broker).

Kevin Hamacek
How did he make any money?

Daniel Silverman
Please note that these findings are from a young inexperienced person claiming to be a wireless security expert. He is an ITT graduate IE desktop support and got a few certs. And oh boy look out he is a boy scout! He is also employed by a known competitor in the same business space. Makes you wonder doesn't it! Carrier IQ has posted from actual security experts that Trevor's claims are in fact false. None of his resume titles gives him any knowledge in the wireless space, and he also works for a company which competes in this space so don't be fooled!
Please see official company responses regarding these false claims.

http://allthingsd.com/20111201/carrier-iq-speaks-our-software-monitors-service-messages-ignores-other-data/?mod=snippet

...See More

Kevin Hamacek
The fact that the info is stored at its sever location rather than those directly controlled by At&t is where it steps outside of that legally. That is why the question is being raised.

Ajay Reddy · Subscribe · Works at Mojostreet.com
Will check it out on my samsung.

Jonathan Bethune
If you're rooted, can't you just delete the application using titanium backup? It may only be a $1, but buying a new app just for this seems unnecessary, not that I blame the kid for trying to make a buck. He's earned it.

Massimiliano Vessi
Why RIM don't publish an app to check if IQ is installed?

Mike Mahoney
RIM doesnt need this rootkit, they have other software to monitor and improve user experience.

Al Herriman · Red Bud High School
seems to me that spyware(that's what this is) forced onto more than half the smartphones in the country is probably done so at the behest of our shady government, not despite it. Calling for a facade of an investigation will only result in scapegoating, lies, and billions of waste(stolen) money.