Carrier IQ Sued in Delaware Federal Court

Apple, HTC, Samsung, Motorola, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Carrier IQ Sued in Delaware Federal Court in Cell Phone Tracking Software Scandal.

WILMINGTON, Del., Dec. 2, 2011- The law firms of Sianni & Straite LLP of Wilmington, DE, Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy LLP of Edison, NJ, and Keefe Bartels L.L.C. of Red Bank, NJ, have today filed a class action complaint in Federal Court in Wilmington, Delaware related to the unprecedented breach of the digital privacy rights of 150 million cell phone users. The complaint asserts that three cell phone providers (T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T) and four manufacturers of cell phones (HTC, Motorola, Apple and Samsung) violated the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

The carriers and manufacturers were caught last month willfully violating customers' privacy rights in direct violation of federal law. A technology blogger in Connecticut discovered that software designed and sold by California-based Carrier IQ, Inc. was secretly tracking personal and sensitive information of the cell phone users without the consent or knowledge of the users. On Nov. 30, 2011, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary said in a letter to Carrier IQ that "these actions may violate federal privacy laws." It added, "this is potentially a very serious matter."

David Straite, one of the attorneys leading the action, noted "this latest revelation of corporate America's brazen disregard for the digital privacy rights of its customers is yet another example of the escalating erosion of liberty in this country. We are hopeful that the courts will allow ordinary customers the opportunity to remedy this outrageous breach." Steve Grygiel, co-counsel for the proposed class, agreed: "anyone who cares at all about their personal privacy, or the broader constitutional right to privacy, ought to care and care a great deal about this case." Barry Eichen added, "today's comment from Larry Lenhart, CEO of Carrier IQ, that his software is somehow good for consumers starkly demonstrates what is at stake."

A copy of the Class Action Complaint in Pacilli v. Carrier IQ, Inc. can be viewed on the Firms' websites at www.siannistraite.com, www.keefebartels.com, and www.njadvocates.com.

Plaintiffs are represented by Sianni & Straite LLP, a Delaware-based litigation firm with a branch office in New York, Keefe Bartels LLC, a New Jersey-based plaintiffs' rights trial law firm, and Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy LLP, a leading plaintiffs firm with three offices in New Jersey.

Consumer Reports Cell Service Ratings by City


Does this Consumer Reports survey of 66,000 people have any credibility for a cell phone service shopper? This survey represents a narrow demographic of respondents. Even Consumer Reports states their “Findings might not reflect the general U.S. population.” Also, it is indeed a survey and does not contain any empirical testing of the type that has made Consumer Reports the respected entity it is today.

But the main reason these results are not meaningful, or fair for that matter, is the lack of information regarding smartphone users vs. old school phone users, broken down by the wireless provider being rated. Why is this important? Smartphones demand a much higher quality of service and bandwidth to operate. Even Consumer Reports implies that users who use their wireless devices primarily for talking and texting (non smartphone customers) are easier to please than those who have smartphones, who require more demanding tasks such as web surfing and watching videos.

Consumer Reports does not provide any data as to which providers in the survey were rated by smartphone subscribers vs. non smartphone subscribers. Thus, their results are comparing apples-to-oranges. For example, is it meaningful or fair to compare Provider A who, for example, was rated by customers who primarily use smartphones vs. Provider B, who was rated by customers who primarily use non smartphones? I think not.

Based on my years of running this web site, I can conclude that some wireless providers have a larger percentage of smartphone subscribers than others. These smartphone subscribers are, by nature, sophisticated, demanding and particular. Other providers have a larger percentage of non smartphone subscribers who are typically lower paying, less sophisticated customers who are happy with status quo and using older phones. These customers, of course, would be happier with their service.

My take? Consumer Reports should divulge the percentage of smartphone and non smartphones subs rating each wireless provider. This key information would allow readers to make fair and meaningful comparisons.

Deadcellzones.com surveys an audience of similar size of 60,000 but does so on a monthly basis. Thus we survey an audience that is 10 times larger than consumer reports. DCZ also provide searchable maps with very specific geographic information about coverage problems. Ask yourself which is more useful as a consumer shopping for service in your area?

Carrier IQ Claims to Ignore Personal Info


Connecticut-based systems administrator Carrier IQ has found itself in hot water of late. Gizmodo recently broke the story that revealed how the company tracked information on most Smartphones without users’ knowledge or ability to opt-out. This revelation came to light via the YouTube video posted by Android developer Trevor Eckhart which demonstrated that Carrier IQ circumvents web encryption to pick up on passwords, Google queries, and other web activities.

Predictably, wireless customers have been outraged, and carriers themselves have sought to distance themselves from the company. Furthermore, Senator Al Franken sent Carrier IQ CEO Larry Lenhart a stern letter warning of possible legal action and demanding an explanation by December 14.

CIQ has recently come to its own defense, however. They are insisting that their intentions are altruistic rather than malevolent. The company released a statement assuring the wireless community that they do not store SMS messages, e-mail, photos, audio, or video recordings. "We measure and summarize the performance of the device to assist Operators in delivering better service," they explained. Additionally, CIQ has claimed that the monitoring operations they undertake are totally on the behest of the carriers.

Andrew Coward, CIQ’s VP of Marketing told The Wall Street Journal’s All Things D that, while the software listens for specific, keystrokes to send diagnostic information to the carriers, they are not privy to the actual message.  They claim to ignore your personal information but still have access to it.

“If there’s a dropped call, the carriers want to know about it,” Coward clarified. “So we record where you were when the call dropped, and the location of the tower being used. … Similarly, if you send an SMS to me and it doesn’t go through, the carriers want to know that, too. And they want to know why — if it’s a problem with your handset or the network.”

Coward also maintained that CIQ does not share the data with any 3rd party operators, and thus consumers have nothing to fear.

Senate Investigation of Carrier IQ Spyware

U.S. Senator Al Franken

U.S. Senator Al Franken just sent Carrier IQ a nasty letter. Today Franken fired off a letter to Carrier IQ CEO Larry Lenhart raising questions about the company's practices and demanding answers by December 14.  Earlier this week a story was launched by Gizmodo that Carrier IQ is Secretly Recording your Mobile Phone Actions.

It appears the Carrier IQ software captures a broad swath of extremely sensitive information from users that would appear to have nothing to do with diagnostics—including who they are calling, the contents of the texts they are receiving, the contents of their searches, and the websites they visit. These actions may violate federal privacy laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This is potentially a very serious matter.  Read the letter below.  Click to enlarge.


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