iOS and Android Apps can Access Your Photos

Smartphones are paving the way for privacy issues. The latest can be troubling for anyone who has ever sent or stored naughty photos on their phone. As it turns out, app developers can take your photos off your phone and upload them to their servers. The problem comes up in both iOS and Android.

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More on Carrier IQ, the Phone Tracker

Yesterday, Carrier IQ (CIQ) was demonstrated on an Android handset. The software allowed your carrier to collect everything their users did with their phones, from sending and receiving texts, phone calls, the keys people pressed, usernames and passwords, and even encrypted searches (without encryption). You can find the original story, as well as the demonstration video here.
Now there have been a few updates to this story. Not all phones have it, some unexpected ones do, and as it turns out, Carrier IQ isn't the sole bad-guy here.

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Android Phones Track Everything You Do

You thought location tracking was a big deal? Wait until you hear this. Android, Blackberry, and even Nokia phones have software, called Carrier IQ, built into the OS, and on every phone. The developer who discovered it described it as a rootkit. It tracks everything from the numbers you dial, the messages you send or receive, and even the encrypted web searches you do. Even https requests are stored without encryption to your carrier. If you used your phone to do something, that information is available to anyone. The software then takes all this collected data and sends it back to the companies' servers. Imagine that, your carrier has every text message you've ever sent. Suddenly those sexts don't seem like a good idea, huh?

There's no way to remove or opt out of the software. The only thing you could possibly do is root your phone, and install a rom that doesn't have the software. But good luck with that. You'd have to find a stabile rom, one that works on your phone, and one that has specifically removed this software. Not to mention the difficulty of applying a rom. Even experienced Android users occasionally brick their phones trying to find a working rom. Buying a new phone every time something goes wrong is very expensive.

So, if you don't like the idea of sending your carrier everything on your phone, don't get an Android, Blackberry, or Nokia phone. On the other hand, if you're the kind of person who walks around naked, keeping a journal that you share with strangers, and you don't mind sending out all your text messages, phone numbers, web searches, and personal data, then you're probably fine with an Android, Blackberry, or Nokia phone. Big Brother's watching you through your Android, Blackberry, and Nokia phones.
via CultOfMac

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