carriers

AT&T rated worst cell phone carrier for second year in a row

AT&T may be huge and generating boatloads of cash every quarter, but when it comes to service, the carrier has a lot of work to do.

For the second year in a row, AT&T was ranked last in Consumer Reports' annual customer satisfaction survey. The company was hit especially hard by complaints over poor voice service and phone-based customer care. Even worse for AT&T, the company's 2011 rating is slightly lower than last year's.

Consumer Reports' survey examines voice, data, and text-messaging service, as well as customer care. The specific ratings are … Read more

T-Mobile deploys Carrier IQ on BlackBerry, others

The more the subject of Carrier IQ gets stirred, the more questions arise.

Last week, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion distanced itself from the Carrier IQ controversy saying:

RIM is aware of a recent claim by a security researcher that an application called "CarrierIQ" is installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or consent of the device users. RIM does not pre-install the CarrierIQ app on BlackBerry smartphones or authorize its carrier partners to install the CarrierIQ app before sales or distribution. RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the CarrierIQ application, … Read more

Senator presses wireless providers for Carrier IQ answers

Sen. Al Franken, who heads a Senate privacy panel, is asking wireless companies and hardware makers exactly how they're using Carrier IQ and what data they're collecting.

A Sprint spokesman confirmed to CNET this morning that the company received a letter from Franken, the Minnesota Democrat who wrote a similar letter to Carrier IQ last week.

Franken also sent letters to AT&T, HTC, Samsung, and Sprint Nextel, according to a report over the weekend in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Carrier IQ is software created by an eponymous startup in Mountain View, Calif., that's used by … Read more

Carrier IQ analysis finds no evidence of 'keylogger'

A Linux kernel hacker who completed an in-depth analysis of Carrier IQ's controversial software has determined that it's incapable of recording keystrokes or perusing SMS messages and e-mail correspondence.

Dan Rosenberg, who has discovered more than 100 vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, FreeBSD, and GNU utilities, published a blog post last night that analyzed the data Carrier IQ collects and transmits on a Samsung Epic 4G Touch. He found that contrary to what a slew of initial -- and erroneous -- reports claimed, the Carrier IQ software is not a keylogger and "cannot" be configured as … Read more

Got Carrier IQ? At least three apps can tell the answer

The world still seems to be sorting out whether Carrier IQ helps improve your smartphone experience or is some sort of privacy antichrist, but in the meantime there's an increasing number of tools to determine whether it's on your phone.

The venerable Lookout Labs--maker of a popular Android antivirus--most recently released a free app to detect if the allegedly malicious keylogging, activity-, and location-tracking process is running on your Android smartphone. … Read more

Carrier IQ verbatim: Answers from company exec, researchers

It's been a tumultuous few weeks for Carrier IQ, the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup at the center of an Internet-wide privacy flap over what its software, which carriers place on mobile phones, actually does.

By now it seems abundantly clear that, contrary to earlier reports, the Carrier IQ technology is not actually a "rootkit keylogger."

But the company has not yet published technical details on how its software works--it says more information will be forthcoming soon--so CNET readers and others have continued to raise questions. In addition, carriers can configure Carrier IQ's software to record … Read more

Carrier IQ faces lawsuits, lawmaker seeks FTC probe

Carrier IQ's woes continue to multiply.

The Mountain View, Calif., startup now faces four lawsuits over allegations that its cellphone software violates the privacy of mobile users. A congressman has also asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission today to investigate those charges.

The developments aren't terribly surprising given the media firestorm around Carrier IQ, which programmer Trevor Eckhart alleges records keystrokes from mobile phones and sends all sorts of personal information off the phone. Carrier IQ denies that and says limited data is gathered for diagnostic purposes only. (CNET has a FAQ with more detailed information about … Read more

The 404 958: Where we lied our way into this job (podcast)

Our guest today is Emily Dreyfuss from CNET's newest tech gossip podcast, Rumor Has It!

We're learning all kinds of stuff from Emily, like to how to defeat an oncoming shark attack, the best way to win a burger-eating competition, and the backstory behind the Carrier IQ keylogging controversy.

Leaked from 404 Podcast 958:

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging. Controversy, confusion over Carrier IQ. Congress lifts five-year ban on the sale of horse meat. Thanks Obama! Rumor: Apple TV sets will be mighty pricey.… Read more

How Carrier IQ was wrongly accused of keylogging

In just a handful of days, a startup company named Carrier IQ has been subjected to extraordinary public vilification, with reports accusing it of making a "rootkit keylogger" that "creeps out everyone" or is the "rootkit of all evil."

The only problem, which is always a risk when a public lynching takes place, is that Carrier IQ appears to be not guilty of the charges lodged against it.

The most serious charge against Carrier IQ, a venture capital-funded startup in Mountain View, Calif., that makes diagnostic software for carriers, has been that it records … Read more