The cease and desist order issued to Android dev Trevor Eckhart has been withdrawn by Carrier IQ less than a week after news first broke of potential legal action. Eckhart has been digging deep into the software found on HTC handsets to determine the full extent of information collected by the service. Carrier IQ first came to light after a potential security hole was uncovered on HTC’s Android handsets. HTC has since worked to issue software fixes, though Carrier IQ maintains their stance that their software was not designed to spy on users and collect sensitive personal data.
Eckhart sought legal counsel from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Carrier IQ has been in touch with both parties. A formal statement was issued to withdraw the initial cease and desist order, but not without taking the opportunity to attempt a bit of face saving. Read on to see Carrier IQ’s statement.
Carrier IQ Press Statement
Mountain View, CA - November 23, 2011 - As, of today, we are withdrawing our cease and desist letter to Mr. Trevor Eckhart. We have reached out to Mr. Eckhart and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to apologize. Our action was misguided and we are deeply sorry for any concern or trouble that our letter may have caused Mr. Eckhart. We sincerely appreciate and respect EFF’s work on his behalf, and share their commitment to protecting free speech in a rapidly changing technological world.
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the functionality of Carrier IQ’s software, what it does not do and what it does:
- Does not record your keystrokes.
- Does not provide tracking tools.
- Does not inspect or report on the content of your communications, such as the content of emails and SMSs.
- Does not provide real-time data reporting to any customer.
- Finally, we do not sell Carrier IQ data to third parties.
Our software is designed to help mobile network providers diagnose critical issues that lead to problems such as dropped calls and battery drain.
Here’s what our software does:
- Our software makes your phone work better by identifying dropped calls and poor service.
- Our software identifies problems that impede a phone’s battery life.
- Our software makes customer service quicker, more accurate, and more efficient.
- Our software helps quickly identify trending problems to help mobile networks prevent them from becoming more widespread.
We look forward to a healthy and robust discussion with EFF that we believe will be helpful to us, to our customers, and to consumers that use mobile devices. We welcome feedback on our products and understand that Mr. Eckhart and other developers like him play an important role by raising questions about the complicated and technical aspects of the mobile ecosystem.
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