windowsphoneputpeoplefirstlogowide

Have you heard about this Carrier IQ thing that has been breaking on the Internet in the last several days?

Well a very basic explanation of the situation is that a large majority of cellular phones contain software on them which is used to report performance data relating to the cellular network, text messages, keystrokes, dropped calls.  Phones having software on them is not anything new because we have apps galore for every handset out there.

The problem with this software on handsets is that the user most likely does not know the software is there because it is not part of the installed apps list and does not appear on any list of programs on the handset.  The second factor of this Carrier IQ software is that it is recording and sending various levels of data back to your carrier for monitoring the things mentioned in the previous paragraph – most likely without your knowledge – and the level of data shared could range as deep as key for key recording on your device.

Now that last part should bother everyone because if it is recording and sending keystroke data to a server somewhere in the world then it is possible your login data and passwords, amongst other things, could be stored on those servers.

As a Windows Phone 7 user I was concerned about the possibility of my LG Quantum handset containing this software but thanks to a tweet from Joe Belfiore, the guy at Microsoft who runs the Windows Phone 7 product team, tweeted earlier today that Windows Phone 7 handsets are clear of this issue:

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I am sure many of you out there may not be using Windows Phone so here is a collection of links that discuss the Carrier IQ software, what phones are impacted and tools to remove it.