Carrier IQ, this newly discovered Software is said to be installed to more than 14 million phones ranging from Samsung to HTC and is causing quite a controversy especially when it comes to privacy and security issues.

This software is controversial because it logs all activities and information done in mobile devices which includes text messages, searches, and dialed phone numbers. Carrier IQ is a third party application that is installed in these devices. This means that Carrier IQ is not part of any OS like Android or Blackberry. Carrier IQ is said to be loaded without the permission of owners and it does not show up on the list of running apps but it is always switched on.

Trevor Eckhart was the first one who exposed Carrier IQ and one the accusations that he mentioned was that the software "logs every button push and keystrokes users make on their devices". He even posted a follow-up video which shows that information is being collected though there was no evidence that this information could be transmitted to servers of Carrier IQ. This prompted users to be concern about their privacy when using their own mobile devices.

Mobile companies like Nokia and RIM (Research in Motion) released a statement regarding this issue stating that both companies do not have CarrierIQ on any of their products. On the other hand, Apple has confirmed that there are some Apple devices that have CarrierIQ but the company assured users that it stopped supporting the said software in their latest version of iOS. The upcoming software update would be able to completely eliminate Carrier IQ from all iPhones and iPads.

On the other hand, three of the largest wireless carriers announced that they are utilizing Carrier IQ's key-logging software. These wireless carriers are AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Though that is the case, the companies reiterate that they are not violating any privacy violation because they are not interested with their user's personal information. AT&T mentioned in their statement that they use Carrier IQ in order to "improve wireless network and service performance." Sprint issued their own company statement regarding this issue saying that "Carrier IQ helps analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service and does not look at the contents of messages, photos, videos, etc., using this tool. The information collected is not sold and we don't provide a direct feed of this data to anyone outside of Sprint." T-Mobile also expressed the same sentiment with their company statement describing that it uses Carrier IQ strictly as "diagnostic tool to troubleshoot device and network performance with the goal of enhancing network reliability and our customers' experience."

Incidentally, Carrier IQ also released a statement addressing this issue about the company's software and insisted that the privacy of users is protected when their software is used. The company explained this stating "Consumers have a trusted relationship with Operators and expect their personal information and privacy to be respected ... The data we gather is transmitted over an encrypted channel and secured within our customers' networks or in our audited and customer-approved facilities." The company mentioned that the core purpose of Carrier IQ is to uncover broad trends across a network and their software could help find out where calls are dropping and the reason behind it as well as observing different device glitches.