Chester Wisniewski writes:
In an interview with AllThingsD today Carrier IQ, the company accused of creating spyware software for mobile carriers, cleared the air and explained in detail what their software does and does not do.
Read more on Naked Security and definitely read John Paczkowski’s column on AllThingsD.
Was this just a matter of lack of transparency but without anything really evil going on? Neither column includes any response from the researcher who first disclosed concerns, and it would be nice to hear his response to Carrier IQ’s explains.
Chester raises a good point, though:
So why all of the fuss? I think the community is becoming fed up with being spied upon, our personal lives and habits being invaded through secret programs and increasingly complicated and confusing privacy statements.
It is unfortunate that Carrier IQ didn’t simply disclose this information when Travis published his research. It is also sad that the mobile phone carriers involved didn’t make it possible to opt-out of sending this information.
Will Carrier IQ be this week’s privacy flame that burns out quickly? Quite possibly. But that probably won’t stop Carrier IQ from getting sued by someone who jumped on the earlier reports.