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[ NNSquad ] Mobile 'Rootkit' Maker Tries to Silence Critical Android Devs + my comments


Mobile 'Rootkit' Maker Tries to Silence Critical Android Dev + my comments

http://j.mp/sFbgZj  (Wired)

   "A data-logging software company is seeking to squash an Android
    developer's critical research into its software that is secretly
    installed on millions of phones, but Trevor Eckhart is refusing to
    publicly apologize for his research and remove the company's training
    manuals from his website."

 - - -

This story has been banging around some days now.  Of course, you
can't unring a bell, and the more noise Carrier IQ has made, the more
attention they've drawn to their practices.  Whether or not the term
"rootkit" applies is rather irrelevant.  The key questions run more
like this:

1) Why is the presence of this software and its operations apparently
   not routinely disclosed to users when they purchase and begin
   using their phones?

2) Why is no mechanism apparently present for users to control, disable,
   and/or remove the software from their phones?

3) Why did Carrier IQ put materials on their public website that they
   actually did not wish to be public?

4) Why are they harassing a 25-year-old when their "cat is already
   out of the bag" -- so to speak?

The first rule of being stuck in a hole is not to dig yourself
in further.  At this stage, Carrier IQ seems on its way down
toward the magma.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren 
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org 
Founder:
 - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org 
 - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
 - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com 
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com 
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein 
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com