Carrier IQ Response on Privacy Falls Short, U.S. Senators Say

Carrier IQ failed to adequately answer questions regarding the data that the company’s software captures from mobile phone users and shares with wireless providers, said Sens Al Franken (D-MN) and Christopher Coons (D-Delaware).

Sen Franken said he was “still very troubled by what’s going on” after reviewing information submitted this week by the company and by mobile carriers including AT&T and Sprint Nextel. “It appears that Carrier IQ has been receiving the contents of a number of text messages -- even though they had told the public that they did not,” Franken, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on privacy, said in a statement yesterday. “I’m also bothered by the software’s ability to capture the contents of our online searches -- even when users wish to encrypt them. So there are still many questions to be answered here and things that need to be fixed.”