Suddenly, Sprint has decided to block the Carrier IQ’s diagnostic software, due to the increasing problems related to user privacy. Sprint issued a statement saying that it weighted costumers concerns and came to the conclusion that it’s for the best to disable the use of the tool, so that diagnostic information and date will no longer be collected. Another source stated that apparently Sprint ordered all its hardware partners to remove the Carrier IQ.
Sprint had to point out that it was not using the Carrier IQ software to look at the content of text messages, emails and other private information stored on users’ phone, and that Carrier IQ was not used in any way for targeted advertising and profiling of its costumers. The only thing the software ever did was reporting network issues and allowing Sprint to improve the services that needed fixing, thus keeping costumers happy. It sounds pretty dramatic!
The Carrier IQ is used by 26 million of its devices in the U.S. alone. But, only 1.3. million devices were apparently reporting data obtained with Carrier IQ at a given time. AT&T also stated that it was using Carrier IQ services on its devices, but not so much as Sprint did. Sprint is one of the big 3 carriers in the US and it’s the second company to date, to disable the use of the software on its devices. The first one was Apple, who also plans to issue a software update soon that will wipe out the Carrier IQ for good from the phones.
[ttjad]
