Hartford, CT - Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today wrote to Larry Lenhart, President and CEO of Carrier IQ, Inc., to express serious concern over research by a Connecticut resident and multiple news reports that the company’s software – installed on many mobile devices without knowledge or consent – is tracking and storing data on users’ whereabouts and mobile phone activity.
Blumenthal wrote, “These practices are troubling enough, but they are compounded by what the software actually does. Research posted online by a Connecticut resident indicates that the Carrier IQ software is able to monitor and log a user’s keystrokes, text messages, web history, and location without the user’s consent or knowledge. This practice is an enormous invasion of consumers’ privacy.”
The Connecticut resident who originally posted the research was threatened by Carrier IQ, Inc. with lawsuits and other methods to censor or remove the research from the internet. In his letter, Blumenthal stated he was “strongly concerned” by this reaction.
“Threatening an individual with a frivolous lawsuit unless he removes his valid criticisms of your company is an appalling abuse of your corporate power and the legal system… In the future, I sincerely hope that your response to criticisms of your business practices is to address the problems raised, rather than to suppress or stifle the critic,” Blumenthal wrote.
