Are the Carriers Spying On You?

It’s rare for me to propose a new law, but one regarding privacy is desperately needed – even if the allegations I report below are false. Something, however, tells me that they’re not.

I probably shouldn't be, but I was stunned to read this article from Atlantic Wire, mostly discussing some embedded (to the point of being invisible) software in some smartphones that provides analytical data to the carriers. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually an advocate of the stated principle here, which is to use actual handsets and related devices to report back general, non-personal information to the operators so that they can get real-time data on the performance of their networks and tune, adjust, and extend their offerings all in the interest of better serving customers. I mean, who could argue against that, right?

Well, it would appear that a solution from a firm called CarrierIQ goes beyond this - way beyond this, in fact. The article states that a researcher has discovered that this software, apparently common on Android devices, also logs keystrokes. The company, in a press release, denies this, but the article goes on to state that such is not the case - the software in fact does collect keystrokes, the contents of text messages, and more.

If this is true, and let's give everyone the benefit of the doubt for the moment, OK, then someone ought to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit. In fact, I think it's once again time for our astonishingly unproductive Congress to do something useful and pass a law to the effect that anything about an individual which that individual does not explicitly put into the public domain via a direct action initiated by the individual is otherwise private, confidential, and may not be collected, used, stored, or disseminated by anyone except as provided in law. In other words, the default is that anything about you not explicitly released by you is by definition your property and private; there is no such thing as op-out, only opt-in. Note that "privacy" in the Constitution is about the relationship between the people and their government, not about the relationship between any combination of individuals, groups, and corporations, so a law is clearly required here. I have advocated this position before, and we really, really need this law, and yesterday.

The Web has turned all of us into products, for sale to anyone who wants to buy whatever they can get about us. Look, that's enough. I don't care how much money the buyers of such information can make. I don't care about how much money their investors can make. I don't even care about how many jobs might be created invading everyone's privacy. This has to stop - now!

• 3G & 4G
• Cybercrime
• CarrierIQ
• privacy
• sleezy corporate behavior