NEWS1 February 2012
US— Draft legislation to force companies to disclose when and if tracking software is installed on mobile devices has been published in the wake of the furore that erupted around Carrier IQ last year.
Congressman Ed Markey (pictured) says the Mobile Device Privacy Act would also require companies to get the express consent of phone users before monitoring begins. A copy of the draft legislation can be found here.
Markey says: “Consumers have the right to know and to say no to the presence of software on their mobile devices that can collect and transmit their personal and sensitive information.”
In publishing the draft, Markey referred to Carrier IQ, whose software has been accused of logging button presses, the contents of text messages and the addresses of websites visited by users – all without their permission.
The company has denied recording any of this information, stating on numerous occasions that its software only measures and summarises the performance of mobile devices.
Markey asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Carrier IQ’s software in December.