Some of the biggest names in mobile have been named in a new class-action lawsuit stemming from the Carrier IQ revelation that rocked the mobile privacy world last month.
The Carrier IQ software is what’s known as a rootkit that is installed at a carrier’s request on mobile phones. The software raises user privacy concerns in light of the fact that it runs in the background and monitors and logs user activity.
Carrier IQ is believed to be installed on well over 100 million devices today.
The class action lawsuit was filed by Delaware-based Sianni & Straite LLP. The suit targets Apple, HTC, Samsung and Motorola. Wireless carriers AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are also named in the lawsuit that alleges an “unprecedented breach in the digital privacy rights of 150 million cell phone users.”
AT&T and Sprint claim the Carrier IQ software is only used as a means to “improve service performance.”
In response to the Carrier IQ scandal, Apple announced that “stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update.”
