Controversial Tracker CarrierIQ Found on iPhone (in Limited Form)
News regarding Carrier IQ, a third-party service loaded on certain smartphones that’s capable of tracking users and even recording keystrokes, has been spreading rapidly in the past few days, though the original discovery happened back in March. The world is still learning more about what the service specifically does, but the latest news is that references to Carrier IQ were found in Apple’s iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone and iPad. Here’s what you need to know.
WHAT IS CARRIER IQ?
Carrier IQ is a little bit of software installed on the kernel level (meaning, way deep down where users can’t really get to it) on many of the most popular smartphones in the country. It’s a data collecting tool, essentially, getting to-the-minute information on, as Carrier IQ says, dropped calls, signal strength, battery issues, that kind of thing. The software, it seems, is applied by the wireless carrier (like Sprint or AT&T) rather than the device manufacturers—recent comments from HTC and RIM (makers of BlackBerry) suggest that the manufacturers have nothing to do with this software and even, in the case of RIM, do not approve of it. The software is installed without the user’s permission before the phone is bought, and the user is not made aware of its existence.