Bavaria asks Apple to answer questions on Carrier IQ
updated 09:55 am EST, Fri December 2, 2011
State may accept Apple promise to drop software
Germany's Bavarian State Authority for Data Protection has sent a letter to Apple, formally requesting information about Carrier IQ, says the head of the government body, Thomas Kranig. "We read in the press about the privacy concerns the software may pose and decided to ask Apple about the details," he explains. "If Apple decided to cease the use, all the better."
Apple recently stated that while it has employed Carrier IQ in the past, it has stopped supporting it with iOS 5 in "most" products, and will remove references entirely in a future software update. The company claims that any diagnostic data it receives is opt-in, anonymous and encrypted. "We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so," a statement elaborated.
Carriers AT&T and Sprint have admitted to using Carrier IQ, but defended it as falling within appropriate boundaries. US Senator Al Franken has meanwhile asked for information from the two carriers, as well as Carrier IQ and phone makers HTC and Samsung. A December 14th deadline has been set.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
Dear BSADP,
If you read about Carrier IQ in conjunction with Apple, in the press, then you no doubt saw in the same story that Apple no longer uses that product for anything other than opt in anonymized end point troubleshooting data. Selectively not believing the story is okay, we guess,..
So here ya go:
Apple no longer uses that product for anything other than opt in anonymized end point troubleshooting data.
Thanks for writing. We hardly ever get paper mail any more. :)