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T-Mobile USA reveals Carrier IQ installed across nine devices

December 22, 2011 — 12:02pm ET | By Jason Ankeny

According to allegations by security researcher Trevor Eckhart, the Carrier IQ app secretly records user behaviors across more than 140 million mobile handsets. Carrier IQ denies any wrongdoing, maintaining that its services count and measure operational information and do not record keystrokes or provide tracking tools.

T-Mobile USA has implemented Carrier IQ software across smartphones including the HTC Amaze and the Samsung Galaxy S II. The company said it relies on Carrier IQ data "solely to obtain data about the nearest cell phone tower" when a subscriber experiences service disruptions.

"Customers expect us to take pro-active steps, including the use of reasonable diagnostic tools, to ensure network reliability and enhance our customers' device experience," T-Mobile USA writes in its response to Franken's queries. The carrier maintains it does not leverage Carrier IQ data to view texts, e-mails, photos and videos, log keystrokes or monitor mobile web activity.

Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) also responded to Franken's inquiries, stating that its operator partners requested the manufacturer to install Carrier IQ on four mobile devices, with about 145,000 units sold as of the third quarter of 2011. "Motorola Mobility neither received nor had access to any data collected by the Carrier IQ software, with the exception of approximately 125 devices used for testing the Carrier IQ software implementation," the company wrote.

Earlier this week, Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) announced it has disabled Carrier IQ across all devices on its network. "We have weighed customer concerns, and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected," Sprint said in an email to Mobile Burn. "We are further evaluating options regarding this diagnostic software as well as Sprint's diagnostic needs."

Carrier IQ has denied reports that it is the target of a Federal Trade Commission investigation but confirmed that executives met last week with FTC and Federal Communications Commission officials. "Although Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-Chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, has asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the practices of Carrier IQ, we are not aware of an official investigation into Carrier IQ at this time.," the firm said in a statement. The Washington Post maintains the FTC inquiry was confirmed by officials who spoke on condition of anonymity--an FTC spokesperson said the agency could neither confirm nor deny whether it is probing Carrier IQ's practices.

Carrier IQ faces lawsuits in multiple U.S. states. A suit filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif. claims the firm "is involved in installing spyware on mobile phones and using that hidden software to siphon off private consumer data without consumer consent." The suit alleges Carrier IQ is in violation of various federal and state laws, including the California Anti-Spyware Statute and the right to privacy provision of the California Constitution.

A separate suit filed in the same court targets Carrier IQ as well as HTC and Samsung, also alleging violations of the Federal Wiretap Act and California's Unfair Business Practice Act. The suit claims that Carrier IQ does in fact record keystrokes and the content of messages and could transmit that information to third parties. Lawsuits also were filed in Chicago and St. Louis.

For more:
- read this Bloomberg article