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Senator Al Franken Asks Carrier IQ to Explain Itself

107 points by rdp 15y ago

kabir_h 15y ago
Why is Senator Franken still using snail mail? He could've just emailed Carrier IQ from his phone. He wouldn't even have to hit send.
joeybaker 15y ago
It's an interesting comment on governmental policy to see how quickly recent events have gone from Internet meme to Congressional attention.
- jonursenbach 15y ago
  It's only really started being this way since Franken was elected in. He seems to be one of the few people who really care about all this shit.
  - bwooceli 15y ago
    I was just thinking the same thing. I see his name show up on a lot of meaningful issues that deal with consumer protections. Not Franken-specific, but I have the same general vibe in the TMO/AT&T proceedings where people who used to think they could just grease a few palms and do whatever they wanted are being confronted by a different version of reality than they're used to.
  - joeybaker 15y ago
    I was thinking it really started with the Obama campaign, became real when the State Department asked Twitter to avoid maintenance during the Arab Spring, and recently has been reflected with Carrier IQ, SOPA, and the FCC privacy reviews of Google/Facebook.
  - rkudeshi 15y ago
    Ron Wyden's been pretty good, too. He was recently declared a winner of the EFF's Pioneer Awards. https://www.eff.org/press/releases/us-senator-encryption-innovator-and-tunisian-blogging-group-win-eff-pioneer-awards https://www.eff.org/press/releases/us-senator-encryption-inn... Excerpt: Few legislators have done more to promote and protect online speech, privacy rights and innovation than U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Most notably, he authored Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that helps make user-generated content and online services possible by protecting hosts from liability. Senator Wyden is currently the lone senator blocking passage of the PROTECT IP Act, legislation that attempts to safeguard intellectual property at the expense of free speech, technological innovation and the very foundation of the Internet. Most recently, Senator Wyden introduced legislation to create a legal framework for when and how location information derived from cell phones and other electronic devices can be accessed and used by both government agents and private entities.
  - briandear 15y ago
    He cares about Protect IP -- he was even a cosponsor. Franken's top contributor is Time Warner, with GE a close second.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
steve8918 15y ago
I have to admit that when I first heard Al Franken was running for Senate, I didn't like him, I didn't like the fact he was an actor, and I felt he was too smug whenever I heard him talk. I basically thought it was ridiculous that another actor made his way into politics. But he seems to be the only politician that is actively involved in the issues that I care about, so I admit I was completely wrong about him, and I've done an about face and actually do support his work. The fact that he is questioning Carrier IQ about what they're doing is just another data point to prove that I was wrong to dismiss him.
- klaruz 15y ago
  Don't forget, he is a co-sponsor of the Protect IP act. Do you support that one?
  - steve8918 15y ago
    I didn't realize that. It makes sense that an actor would care about copyright protection. That's too bad, but I guess not everyone's perfect. I do still think he's better than most of the other career politicians that only seem to care about completely irrelevant issues.
- pseudonym 15y ago
  Keep in mind that his overarching idea seems to be "technology is bad, mkay?" He also supports SOPA and was calling for a "Flag Terrorist" button for all Blogger blogs.
  - joebadmo 15y ago
    I think it was Protect IP, not SOPA, that he's co-sponsoring. Not that that's any better, but just trying to clear up the facts. Also, I thought it was Joe Lieberman that was calling for the "Flag terrorist" button. A quick Google for "Al Franken flag terrorist button" doesn't turn anything up for me. Do you have a source?
    - 15y ago
ck2 15y ago
I wish we could clone Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren a few dozen times. Just think of how the DMCA tries to block this kind of discovery though.
RandallBrown 15y ago
Why would he ask Carrier IQ to explain itself? Why not the wireless carriers and phone companies that installed this on the phones? Carrier IQ makes a product. Companies are choosing to use it in a scummy way. I don't think that Carrier IQ is the bad guy here.
- sixtofour 15y ago
  Exactly. It's like asking Smith & Wesson to explain itself after an armed robbery.
  - mfringel 15y ago
    No, not exactly. "Exactly" would be if CarrierIQ sold a boxed piece of software that was fire & forget. As it stands, CarrierIQ was a business partner with each of these companies in the implementation of the software, and so they are the initial point of leverage in figuring out what actually happened. If CarrierIQ decides to roll over on the carriers and say "well, $carrier asked me to log all the SMS messages", well, then I'll take up a side business selling popcorn.
  - andrewfelix 15y ago
    Except in this case the pistol was sold to be used explicitly for armed robberies.
  - thedufer 15y ago
    Its like your example, in some world where Smith & Wesson explicitly stated that their guns can only fire blanks. And then, of course, this armed robbery resulted in a gun death.
Bdennyw 15y ago
I'll be impressed when he asks the NSA, FBI and NYPD to explain themselves.
- briandear 15y ago
  They already do explain themselves just at classified hearings to the Senate and House Intelligence committees. Although I don't know about NYPD although they do have an intelligence community liasion that coordinates with FBI and DHS.
mmcdan 15y ago
Remember the emails that AT&T sent out to people it suspected of tethering their phones without paying the exorbitant monthly fee (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-using-unauthorized-tethering-methods-to-pay/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-us...)? Something tells me that this wonderful "diagnostic" information had something to do with it. Why packet-sniff and risk legal issues when you can just look at your CarrierIQ analytics for people who opened a tethering app regularly?

107 points by rdp 15y ago

Why is Senator Franken still using snail mail? He could've just emailed Carrier IQ from his phone. He wouldn't even have to hit send.

joeybaker 15y ago

It's an interesting comment on governmental policy to see how quickly recent events have gone from Internet meme to Congressional attention.

jonursenbach 15y ago
It's only really started being this way since Franken was elected in. He seems to be one of the few people who really care about all this shit.
- bwooceli 15y ago
  I was just thinking the same thing. I see his name show up on a lot of meaningful issues that deal with consumer protections. Not Franken-specific, but I have the same general vibe in the TMO/AT&T proceedings where people who used to think they could just grease a few palms and do whatever they wanted are being confronted by a different version of reality than they're used to.
- joeybaker 15y ago
  I was thinking it really started with the Obama campaign, became real when the State Department asked Twitter to avoid maintenance during the Arab Spring, and recently has been reflected with Carrier IQ, SOPA, and the FCC privacy reviews of Google/Facebook.
- rkudeshi 15y ago
  Ron Wyden's been pretty good, too. He was recently declared a winner of the EFF's Pioneer Awards. https://www.eff.org/press/releases/us-senator-encryption-innovator-and-tunisian-blogging-group-win-eff-pioneer-awards https://www.eff.org/press/releases/us-senator-encryption-inn... Excerpt: Few legislators have done more to promote and protect online speech, privacy rights and innovation than U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Most notably, he authored Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that helps make user-generated content and online services possible by protecting hosts from liability. Senator Wyden is currently the lone senator blocking passage of the PROTECT IP Act, legislation that attempts to safeguard intellectual property at the expense of free speech, technological innovation and the very foundation of the Internet. Most recently, Senator Wyden introduced legislation to create a legal framework for when and how location information derived from cell phones and other electronic devices can be accessed and used by both government agents and private entities.
- briandear 15y ago
  He cares about Protect IP -- he was even a cosponsor. Franken's top contributor is Time Warner, with GE a close second.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

steve8918 15y ago

I have to admit that when I first heard Al Franken was running for Senate, I didn't like him, I didn't like the fact he was an actor, and I felt he was too smug whenever I heard him talk. I basically thought it was ridiculous that another actor made his way into politics. But he seems to be the only politician that is actively involved in the issues that I care about, so I admit I was completely wrong about him, and I've done an about face and actually do support his work. The fact that he is questioning Carrier IQ about what they're doing is just another data point to prove that I was wrong to dismiss him.

klaruz 15y ago
Don't forget, he is a co-sponsor of the Protect IP act. Do you support that one?
- steve8918 15y ago
  I didn't realize that. It makes sense that an actor would care about copyright protection. That's too bad, but I guess not everyone's perfect. I do still think he's better than most of the other career politicians that only seem to care about completely irrelevant issues.
pseudonym 15y ago
Keep in mind that his overarching idea seems to be "technology is bad, mkay?" He also supports SOPA and was calling for a "Flag Terrorist" button for all Blogger blogs.
- joebadmo 15y ago
  I think it was Protect IP, not SOPA, that he's co-sponsoring. Not that that's any better, but just trying to clear up the facts. Also, I thought it was Joe Lieberman that was calling for the "Flag terrorist" button. A quick Google for "Al Franken flag terrorist button" doesn't turn anything up for me. Do you have a source?
  - 15y ago

ck2 15y ago

I wish we could clone Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren a few dozen times. Just think of how the DMCA tries to block this kind of discovery though.

RandallBrown 15y ago

Why would he ask Carrier IQ to explain itself? Why not the wireless carriers and phone companies that installed this on the phones? Carrier IQ makes a product. Companies are choosing to use it in a scummy way. I don't think that Carrier IQ is the bad guy here.

sixtofour 15y ago
Exactly. It's like asking Smith & Wesson to explain itself after an armed robbery.
- mfringel 15y ago
  No, not exactly. "Exactly" would be if CarrierIQ sold a boxed piece of software that was fire & forget. As it stands, CarrierIQ was a business partner with each of these companies in the implementation of the software, and so they are the initial point of leverage in figuring out what actually happened. If CarrierIQ decides to roll over on the carriers and say "well, $carrier asked me to log all the SMS messages", well, then I'll take up a side business selling popcorn.
- andrewfelix 15y ago
  Except in this case the pistol was sold to be used explicitly for armed robberies.
- thedufer 15y ago
  Its like your example, in some world where Smith & Wesson explicitly stated that their guns can only fire blanks. And then, of course, this armed robbery resulted in a gun death.

Bdennyw 15y ago

I'll be impressed when he asks the NSA, FBI and NYPD to explain themselves.

briandear 15y ago
They already do explain themselves just at classified hearings to the Senate and House Intelligence committees. Although I don't know about NYPD although they do have an intelligence community liasion that coordinates with FBI and DHS.

mmcdan 15y ago

Remember the emails that AT&T sent out to people it suspected of tethering their phones without paying the exorbitant monthly fee (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-using-unauthorized-tethering-methods-to-pay/ http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-us...)? Something tells me that this wonderful "diagnostic" information had something to do with it. Why packet-sniff and risk legal issues when you can just look at your CarrierIQ analytics for people who opened a tethering app regularly?