Against the backdrop of today's WikiLeaks releases of documents about the surveillance industry, here are some links covering Android developer Trevor Eckhart's early disclosures about Carrier IQ, the name of the company providing 'embedded analytics' to the telecom industry and that of the hidden spyware rootkit found on many android, Windows and BlackBerry phones, and quite possibly iPhones too.
Perhaps the—for the consumer—singlemost 'incendiary' capability of the Carrier IQ spyware is a full-fledged keylogger, since it's hard to see why private data content (including that transmitted over WiFi networks) is important for the improvement of phone provider 'service quality' and 'network efficiency', the official reason for Carrier IQ's contracted services and the presence of its spyware.
This latter is an important point: it's providers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint rather than the phone manufacturers, which hire Carrier IQ and allow it to put the Carrier IQ rootkit on the phones they provide their customers with. To be clear: not all carriers do this; for instance, several European telecom companies deny participating in the CIQ program (although they may use other, comparable services).
