Authorized software on smartphones reports users' activities

A latest research video showed that a preinstalled mobile software with no way to opt out has been logging almost everything users do on their handsets, technology news website CNET and other U.S. media reported on Wednesday. The software, called Carrier IQ, is installed on most modern Android, Blackberry and Nokia phones. A YouTube video, posted by U. S. security researcher Trevor Eckhart, revealed that the software is secretly capturing a user's phone experience. According to the video, the software captures keylogging, which means it tracks nearly every key struck on the phone. "Every button you press in the dialer before you call. It already gets sent off to the IQ application," said Eckhart in the video. Meanwhile, the software sends the content of users' text messages to its servers secretly and also captures the exact search request in a Google search even in a private mode. Eckhart said that the software is set to run at all times and cannot be shut off without rooting the phone and replacing the operating system. Rooting, similar to jailbreaking on Apple's iOS devices, enables Android users to attain privileged control within Android' s Linux subsystem to overcome limitations that mobile carriers and manufacturers put on the devices. Besides, even if users stop using the service for mobile carrier and use Wi-Fi, their smartphones still report to Carrier IQ, the research showed.