A profile is being generated about you, slowly but surely. It starts out as a vague picture, but the more you communicate, the the more clearly you define yourself. It includes your political affiliations, interests you display online, who your friends are, your every movement, your sexual preferences, close secrets, and anything else that can be gathered about you. These profiles are stored in a government database that allow contractors to test threat-detection algorithms to identify potential threats to national security -- aka, status quo. These reports will be sent to the appropriate LEO to summon and indefinitely detain you. You will be sent to a secret prison. You will not have a court date. Get ready for the New America.
The most troubling part of this whole story is that Carrier IQ itself may be breaking Federal laws by logging keystrokes without getting consent from the user...and then the FBI uses that data in investigations. Wonderful.
> A profile is being generated about you, slowly but surely.
In days of old, I would have agreed, but things like Facebook make me question the whole "sinister" aspect of the central database.
Have you noticed how, if the government is the one collecting data, then it's evil? But, give a person the opportunity to share all kinds of private information about themselves on the Internet, they'll do it very quickly and willingly?
Or, we used to worry about those secret chips being implanted in us that could be used to track our location. Well, I don't know about you, but I sure love my location-aware apps that constantly broadcast my location. Cause, of course everyone should where I am all the time! </sarcasm>
If it's the government collecting data, then it's surveillance and evil. But if it's just egocentric self-promotion, it's all good.
We live in a world of our own creation. There is no conspiracy but the one we empower others to create.
And yes, I'm going heavy on the hyperbole here as well, but I'm really sort of sick of people whining and complaining about this stuff all the time. But at the same time, they don't want to pay the very real costs associated with privacy, freedom and security.
It is entirely possible that the FBI is investigating Carrier IQ at the request of the Senate and has documents about what they have found regarding how Carrier IQ uses its data. Those documents would be part of an 'ongoing investigation.'
>These reports will be sent to the appropriate LEO to summon and indefinitely detain you. You will be sent to a secret prison.
it may be not the worst what could happen to one. Reading about Kennedy/Oswald/Ruby, i've been wondering how much of a precisely targetted influence one is needed to be made behaving in a specific way. How much of our actions are really "ours"?
Which is why it's nice to be in full control of the software/hardware stack you use. Walled gardens may look nice and be convenient in the present, and may even give the illusion of security, but in the end they're inevitably abused.
However, the only documented case of the abuse is on the "most open" hardware stack. Jailbreakers saw no keylogging on the iPhone. (In fact, it's disabled by default on the iPhone).
I'm not sure if you meant for this particular interpretation or not, but the way you invoke "walled garden" makes it sound a lot like you are targeting iOS specifically. This couldn't be further from the truth.
Based on my own reading. Carrier IQ is installed on many Android-based phones, including those from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile networks. Apple, HTC and Samsung have all confirmed that Carrier IQ is on their phones. HOWEVER, Apple has also announced that it has stopped supporting CIQ as of iOS 5, and will completely scrub the software from later releases.
So no, this has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not your phone exists in a closed ecosystem. The problem is that companies are incentivized to get away with as much of this kind of information collection as it possibly can. And just because I have to jailbreak my iPhone if I want to install unvetted software, doesn't mean Apple is thumbing their noses at legitimate customer complaints and concerns.
Why should the government run massive data centers to crawl your every move when they can get you to run a hidden app to do the pre-filtering for them (and give them keystroke/touch-level access on demand in realtime)
This unfolding Carrier IQ scandal is a really huge deal in my opinion. It just shows how our phones are used by both companies and law enforcement to track us, and that probably for a decade with software like this.
Anybody knows if there is a website that tracks this incident, affected phones, related news, ...?
It's a shame really that we don't have access to the same data for self-discovery. Imagine if everyone had their own data and people could communicate with algorithms. Greenpeace could have a little thing that you run on your data to get tips for improving your shopping habits, etc. Unions could have a way to help you avoid bad products. Or your phone could learn when you need a nudge one way or the other to improve your health.
Gotta love the paranoid nutjobs jumping straight to "the FBI is using Carrier IQ to spy on us" when an equally likely explanation buried in paragraph three is that if the FBI is conducting an investigation of Carrier IQ for possible violation of federal wiretap laws then the same data would be withheld. Let's see now... Al Franken, who recently made some loud noises about Carrier IQ and sent a public letter to the company asking for information about what they are doing, sits on the Senate Judiciary committee. The committee that has direct oversight of the FBI would be? Anyone? Bueller?
Not quite sure it's "paranoid" to think the FBI is, in some cases, using Carrier IQ software to gather information given recent U.S. history. Also, since the request was specifically for manuals used to gather information using Carrier IQ, and not just for any information on Carrier IQ, when they say they have responsive documents to the request I would imagine it refers to manuals or guides in their possession.
[+] [-] smokeyj|14 years ago|reply
Edit - Yes, the hyperbole is strong in this one.
[+] [-] JanezStupar|14 years ago|reply
Holy Shit. Stallman was right.
Prescience is a dangerous gift for ones mental health. I like to think of RMS as driven mad by his vision not seeing vision because of being mad.
[+] [-] felipemnoa|14 years ago|reply
Considering the link below I'm not so sure:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/12/indefinite-military...
[+] [-] soundslikeneon|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitops|14 years ago|reply
In days of old, I would have agreed, but things like Facebook make me question the whole "sinister" aspect of the central database.
Have you noticed how, if the government is the one collecting data, then it's evil? But, give a person the opportunity to share all kinds of private information about themselves on the Internet, they'll do it very quickly and willingly?
Or, we used to worry about those secret chips being implanted in us that could be used to track our location. Well, I don't know about you, but I sure love my location-aware apps that constantly broadcast my location. Cause, of course everyone should where I am all the time! </sarcasm>
If it's the government collecting data, then it's surveillance and evil. But if it's just egocentric self-promotion, it's all good.
We live in a world of our own creation. There is no conspiracy but the one we empower others to create.
And yes, I'm going heavy on the hyperbole here as well, but I'm really sort of sick of people whining and complaining about this stuff all the time. But at the same time, they don't want to pay the very real costs associated with privacy, freedom and security.
[+] [-] pyre|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ChuckMcM|14 years ago|reply
Still I appreciate the attempt at a FOIA dump.
[+] [-] mindhunter|14 years ago|reply
FTFY. I'm sure this is happening all over the world.
[+] [-] VladRussian|14 years ago|reply
it may be not the worst what could happen to one. Reading about Kennedy/Oswald/Ruby, i've been wondering how much of a precisely targetted influence one is needed to be made behaving in a specific way. How much of our actions are really "ours"?
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] Buttle|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tedjdziuba|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] theorique|14 years ago|reply
Go to sleep, citizens. All is well. All is under control.
[+] [-] eliasmacpherson|14 years ago|reply
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the functionality of Carrier IQ’s software, what it does not do and what it does:
Does not record your keystrokes.
Does not provide tracking tools.
Does not inspect or report on the content of your communications, such as the content of emails and SMSs.
Does not provide real-time data reporting to any customer.
Finally, we do not sell Carrier IQ data to third parties.
http://www.carrieriq.com/company/PR.EckhartStatement.pdf
[+] [-] waqf|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kstenerud|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redrobot5050|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] soundslikeneon|14 years ago|reply
Based on my own reading. Carrier IQ is installed on many Android-based phones, including those from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile networks. Apple, HTC and Samsung have all confirmed that Carrier IQ is on their phones. HOWEVER, Apple has also announced that it has stopped supporting CIQ as of iOS 5, and will completely scrub the software from later releases.
So no, this has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not your phone exists in a closed ecosystem. The problem is that companies are incentivized to get away with as much of this kind of information collection as it possibly can. And just because I have to jailbreak my iPhone if I want to install unvetted software, doesn't mean Apple is thumbing their noses at legitimate customer complaints and concerns.
[+] [-] r00fus|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] metachris|14 years ago|reply
Anybody knows if there is a website that tracks this incident, affected phones, related news, ...?
[+] [-] redrobot5050|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drunkenmasta|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fluidcruft|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sev|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redrobot5050|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 16s|14 years ago|reply
Those Who Sacrifice The Right To Privacy For Convenience Deserve Neither.
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] mariuolo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] losethos|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] lurkinggrue|14 years ago|reply
...well not THAT shocked.
[+] [-] evgen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morisy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ck2|14 years ago|reply
The warrantless domestic spying is just a bonus for them.