Is Your Android Phone Spying on you – The Keylogger software is responsible

2015-12-11

The privacy of the iPhone users was in deep last year because of the “locationgate”. Today, the privacy of the Android users is also in trouble and it is said that there is software that is designed by the Carrier IQ, a company. The software is pre installed in most of the Android devices that are released by the carrier. The work that the software is doing is not limited to tracking the location of a person. It is in fact tracking the whole phone, the phone usage or we can say it is tracking the life of a person and keeping a continuous eye on it. Special thanks to Trevor Eckhart who revealed this information.

What is Carrier IQ, exactly?

The most amazing part is that the software is completely invisible. It is very must difficult to know whether it is installed or not. As I already said, it tracks each and everything. From browsing to key logs and Google searches, it knows every single thing. In simple words, whatever button you touch or type is stored in this software. You can see the video on YouTube as well. Making the long story short, the software is a keylogger that saves your each moment.

According to the manufacturers, the primary purpose of this keylogger is to get the report of mobile phones so that they are able to know the people point of view and in result they create something better according to the needs of users. It doesn’t make any sense. Like how recording each keystroke is important to get this information and above all installing it without the permission of the user. There is something else that they want. Interestingly, the software is on all the major brands including Samsung, Motorola, HTC and that’s not it. The keylogger is even insatalled in Nokia and BlackBerry devices.

According to the Carrier IQ, the software is not a keylogger or any tracking device and it is simply installed to check the performance. What the video shows is totally opposite. As seen in the video, the software is something between the OS and you with the purpose to track everything and save what you did. There is simply nothing that can help you and there is no way out.

So what can I do to ensure my privacy?

There is simply nothing that you can do about it. You can’t even switch it off, can’t even see it and can’t even uninstall it. It is something hidden, something that you can’t see. You simply have no idea where it exists or where to find it. Would you like if you know that your phone is being watched all the time. It is something really fishy. It is very personal property and it should be kept private. If the company wants to analyze the performance, what is the need to access the private information?

We only can have that company will do something if they really want the betterment of people. In such a noisy situation, it is the duty of the company to satisfy the customers and turn off the software. It is not it, the Android users also wants something that ensures their privacy. You don’t know whether Carrier IQ is on your phone or not. The best thing to do in such a situation is to replace the ROM of your phone with the one in which Carrier IQ is not installed.

Here’s how to do it:

The first thing that you need to do is rooting your phone. It is not a difficult task. You can have it done very easily. You will be able to get some valuable information from XDA Forum. This page will allow you to search and you will be able to know how to root and install the ROM. One thing you need to notice is that the rooting process is different for different phones, so you must check your phone model accurately.

After that you need a ROM that is according to your device and must have not the Carrier IQ installed. You can consider Vanilla or AOSP ROMs. These Android versions are made up of the open source code which is provided by Google whenever a new version comes out. As the ROM is now a completely different one, you can feel safe.

One of the other solutions to this problem is Cyanogenmod. It is one of the custom ROMs that are loved by the people. It is simply one of the best. There are so many features in it and is the top priority of the people when it comes to custom ROMs. If you don’t feel safe with the Carrier IQ, this is the best alternative. The development team of this ROM is working very hard to release the latest versions of it.

Final thoughts

In the modern world, nothing is more important than keeping the privacy. The privacy of a person is something that should be protected at every cost. It is not good from the side of companies to release software like this without the permission of the people. It doesn’t make any sense. If the companies convince us that keylogger is okay to check the performance, we would not say anything. But doing things like this and revealing the privacy of the people is not good at all.