Back in 2011, when the smartphone market was still relatively young, Carrier IQ earned a degree of infamy by being one of the first companies discovered to be collecting detailed user data and information surreptitiously on mobile devices. Since then, Carrier IQ has managed to stay out of the limelight until now when it was announced that AT&T has acquired rights to Carrier IQ’s software and to some staff that is coming on board at AT&T. At the same time, the Carrier IQ web site has gone dark and it is unclear what the status of the company is.
AT&T says they acquired the Carrier IQ assets as part of a strategy “to improve the customer’s network and wireless service experience.” AT&T says the move is consistent with their privacy policy and is a benefit to users. Ostensibly, this was the same purpose Carrier IQ existed for prior to the 2011 incident.
In addition to AT&T, another source – Light Reading – claims Nielsen was involved in the deal as well. However, a spokesperson with Nielsen denies any involvement in ownership of assets, though the company will be licensing Carrier IQ technology from AT&T.
Despite the attention garnered by Carrier IQ in 2011, many companies continued to do business with them. In addition to AT&T and Nielsen, which were customers prior to this latest deal, other customers included Ericsson, IBM, Symphony Teleca and Teradata. T-Mobile reportedly uses Carrier IQ as well.
After Carrier IQ Gate, there were several lawsuits filed over the apparent breaches of privacy connected to the use of Carrier IQ technology. It appears that AT&T did not acquire any components of the company that would put it on the line for any of those liabilities.
source: TechCrunch
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