Is the FBI Using Carrier IQ for Domestic Surveillance?

Remember that software installed on 140 million smartphones that tracks every keystroke you make?

Smartphone users were told that Carrier IQ was only being used for diagnostic information but what exactly does this mean? And if it’s only being used for diagnostic information, why is the FBI denying a FOIA request for records of how that agency has used data from the software for law enforcement purposes?

Most importantly, if data from our smartphones is being used by the FBI without our knowledge, is this just the next frontier in domestic spying programs?

Jon Brodkin has the scoop:


An enterprising advocate for openness in government has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FBI for all information the agency uses related to Carrier IQ, the company under fire for monitoring user activity on smartphones—and his request was flatly denied. The FBI claims data gathered by Carrier IQ software is exempt from disclosure laws because it is located in an investigative file that was “compiled for law enforcement purposes” and “could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.”

Michael Morisy, a journalist who founded an organization called MuckRock to ease the process of filing FOIA requests, wrote the FBI on Dec. 1 asking for “any manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ…. In addition, I ask for expedited processing as this is a matter of immediate news interest: The existence of Carrier IQ’s software was recently disclosed and has immediate ramifications on constitutionally protected privacy rights.”

The FBI acknowledged receiving his request within a few days, and then issued a blanket denial, which cites a law exempting records from disclosure if releasing them could interfere with law enforcement proceedings. “In applying this exemption, I have determined that the records responsive to your request are law enforcement records; that there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records; and that release of the information contained in these responsive records could reasonably be expected to interfere with the enforcement proceedings,” an FBI records management official named David Hardy wrote to Morisy.

Technology and politics are in a constant tango. For every leap forward – like the ability to videotape police abuse from your phone – there’s a leap backward. The FBI and other state agencies having such easy access to so much personal data should give us pause.

I’m not sure how the scales ultimately balance out. Technology is a net gain for people even if governments can use it to invade privacy or strip away rights.

The ancient answer to this sort of concern is “Well, if you’re not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear!”

But this is nonsense. We all have a stake in privacy concerns. We can’t guarantee the beneficence of the state now, let alone future governments with ever more power and ever fewer constraints in its endless pursuit of the War on Terror.

Carrier IQ has denied sharing any information with the FBI, but the Bureau could have gotten the information from carriers instead. At this point it’s impossible to say what’s going on without any details.

FORBES