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FRED UPTON,MICHIGAN CHAIRMAN
ONE
HUND
R
ED
TWELFTHCONG
RESS
HENRYA.
WAXMAN
,CALIFORNIA
RANKING
MEMBER
QCongress
of
tbe
llniteb
~tates
~ouse
of
l\epresentatibes
CO
MM
ITTEE ON ENERGY
AND
COMM
ERCE
2125
RAYBURNHOUSEO
FFICE
BUIL
DINGWASHINGTON,
DC
20515-6115
TheHonora
bl
eFredUpton Chairman Committ
ee
onEnergyand
Comm
erceU.S.House
of
Representatives 2125Rayburn HouseOffice Building Washington,DC205
15
TheHonora
bl
e C
li
ff
StearnsChairman
Majority (202)
225
-
2927
Minori
ty
(202) 22
5-
3641
January12,2012 Subco
mmitt
ee onOversightand
In
ves
ti
gationsU.S.House
of
Representa
ti
Yes
2125 Rayburn HouseOfficeBuilding Washington,DC20515 TheHonorableMaryBonoMack Chairman Subcommitt
ee
onCommerce,
Ma
nufacturing,andTrade CommitteeonEnergyand
Commerce
2125Rayburn HouseOffice Building Washington,DC205
15
DearChairmanUpton,ChairmanStearns,andChairmanBono Mack: We are writingtorequestah
ea
ringonconcernsaboutconsumer priyacyraisedbythe recent
Ca
rrierIQ co
nt
roversy.Lastmonth,ananalysis
of
l
og
fi
les onanAndroidmobiled
ev
icegenerated al
ar
maboutdiagnosticsoftware created by Carrier IQand
th
e scope
of
dataco
ll
ected, analyzed,andtransmittedbythatcompanyandbymobiledevicemanufacturersandwireless carrier
s.
I
There
continue to bemanyunanswered ques
ti
onsabout
th
ehandling
of
thisdata andthe extent to w
hi
ch itscollection,analysis,and transmissionposel
eg
itimateprivacyconce
rn
sfor
I
See,
e.
g.,Senator FrankenAsksCarrierIQforAnswers,
Wa
s
hin
gtonPost
(Dec
.
I,20
II
);
CarrierIQ:WeDon
'f
Rec
ord
Keyslrok
es,
Bil
lYOllrPhoneDoes,
CNNMoney(Dec.16,20
11
).
 
TheHonorable FredUpton TheHonorableClitTStearns TheHonorableMaryBonoMack January1
2,2
01
2Page2 theAmerican public. The COlllmitteeshouldexaminethe factsand potentialconcernsraised by the Carrier
IQ
controversy. Carrier IQsoftwareisd
es
igned tohelp mobiledevice
manuf
acturersandwirelesscarriers tracktheperformance
of
theirphones and networks.
It
ispr
ese
nt
on millions of phones on Sprint,T-Mobile, A
T&T
,andother networks.Although consumersknowlillie
if
anything about thisso
ft
ware,itcouldre
pr
esent asignificant threat to privacy.Last month,a researcher published analysis suggestingthatCarrierlQsoftwarerecords a
ll
keystrok
es
enteredinto a mobiledevi
ce
usingGo
og
l
e's
Android
op
eratingsystem,including
th
e co
nt
ent
of
text messages andothersensitivedata
2
Carrier lQhas confirmedsomeimpo
rt
a
nt
inf
orma
ti
onabout
it
sso
ft
ware:that
it
cancollect informationsuch as callsmade andr
ece
ived,aphon
e's
physicallocation,theURLsof webs
it
es searched bya deviceuser,and insome cases,internetsearch que
ri
es,and thatitcan transmit this
inf
orma
ti
onbacktonetworkpr
ov
ider
s.
Carrier IQhas also admitted
th
at
it
ssoftwareco
ll
ectedand transmitted
th
e co
nt
e
nt
of SMStextmessagesse
nt
by somemobile device users,though the co
mp
any statesthatthisco
ll
ec
ti
onwasunintentionalandr
es
ultedfromabug that
it
has corrected] CarrierlQ hasde
ni
edtheall
ega
ti
onsthat
it
s so
ft
waremakesl
ogg
ing of keystrok
es
possibl
e.
In
st
ea
d,the companyarguesthat
th
ethird-pa
rt
yexpe
rt
analysisreve
al
edavulnerabilityinAndroid devicesthatr
es
ulted
in
thelogging of k
eys
trok
es
insomephon
es
.
4
If
true,theseconclusionsare
al
sotroublin
g.
The Androidvulnerabilitycould havele
ft
thiskeystroke in
fo
rmation availableto
ill!.Y
third-pa
rt
ywhose softwarehad been insta
ll
edonauser's phon
e.
Dataco
ll
ectionandtransmission byCa
rri
erlQandsimilarso
ft
wareiswidespr
ea
d,and c
on
sumers
app
eartohavelittlekn
ow
ledge and
eve
n lesscontrolovertheprac
ti
ce.Byone
es
timate,Carrier IQso
ft
wareisprese
nt
inover
30
million mobilephones
in
theUnitedStat
es
5
Wireless carriersand device
manu
fac
turersthat havenot
pur
chasedCarrier IQ
's
servicesmaybe co
ll
ecting similardatainternall
y,
addingtothe
numb
erof
afT
ectedconsumer
s.
Before
la
stmonth,even themostt
ec
lmica
ll
y savvycustomersmaynothavebeenaware of
th
epresence
of
this so
ft
ware andof
it
sc
ap
ac
it
yfortransmittingsensitive
inf
orma
ti
on. And even if consumers
2
See SenatorFranken
.--
hks
CarrierIQJorAm'll'ers,
Was
hingt
onPo
st (D
ec.
I,20I
I)
.
3
See
LeiterfromKe
ll
y S.
Shar
pe,Carrier IQ
CFO
,toSenator AlFranken(Dec.14.201
1).
·1
See
Car
ri
erlQ,
Understand
in
gCarrier
lQ
Technology
(Dec.15,20II)(avail
ab
leonl
in
e
ai
hnp:l/
ca
rrieri
q.co
m/company/PR.20II 121
2.
pdf) (v
is
it
edDec. 21.20I I).
:;
SeeCar
ri
er
IQ
:
Whi
ch WirelessCarrierIs
rh
e
Bi
ggestUser,
Washington P
os
t(D
cc.
16,
20
11
).
of 00

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