Carrier IQ, a Tracking Software Hidden in iOS and Android [Looks like Steve Jobs was right]

A question that has been raised for a while now, does Android too log everything that a user does on his phone? Security researches had found iPhones running on iOS 4 firmware were tracking a user`s location, longitude, latitude and time stamp, and sharing it with his computer. Why this is happening confusing, but what`s even more perplexing is that the data was not being sent to Apple`s servers. So, users were more confused than worried.

In an attempt to understand this situation, an iPhone user sent an inquiring email to Apple and he was ready to switch to Android in case of a delayed reply. Shockingly, Android is not an option this time since Droid do too track users` information. Yes, they log everything you do on your phone too.

Looks like Steve Jobs was right. A piece of hardware has been found buried inside Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones called Carrier IQ. Trevor Echkart, the developer who discovered this mysterious hardware released a video of his findings.

When using the handset, Carrier IQ logs and saves each key dialed. When receiving a text message, Carrier IQ will process and log the text message, before the user even sees it. Web searches are stored by the service as well, logged in plain text. No encryption.

That`s not where it ends, but carrier IQ also will send the data to its servers including logs of your emails, web searches, calls and text messages. Being a violation of privacy, Eckhart is not so happy about this and is making his concerns public.

In a phone interview to wired.com, a marketing manager defended Carrier IQ saying:

We’re not looking at texts. We’re counting things. How many texts did you send and how many failed. That’s the level of metrics that are being gathered.

(Via THE VERGE)