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  (Source: twobeatsapart.com)
Intergis makes GPS tracking/telemetry products

We've wondered why amateur Android devoloper Trevor Eckhart's commentary on his "discovery" of Carrier IQ was so seemingly one side and exagerrated.  Now we've found out something interesting -- he works for a tracking firm that is a potential rival to Carrier IQ.

Carrier IQ -- installed on over 140 million phones -- even in the worst case is hardly as bad as Mr. Eckhart, along with some members of the public and the media, made it out to be in their rush to lynch the telemetry firm.  In fact my own analysis of Carrier IQ -- which included both debug logging (as in Mr. Eckhart's research) and decompilation of the Carrier IQ Android applications on an HTC Corp. (TPE:2498) device (something Mr. Eckhart did not do) -- indicated that the worst things Carrier IQ distributions were doing were largely the result of poor coding and pratices from its carrier and OEM partners.

So what led Mr. Eckhart to fail to qualify that Carrier IQ was only keylogging inside one proprietary app on a handful of HTC phones, leading many members of the media and public to mistakenly think it was keylogging passwords inside web forms and third party applications?

Mr. Eckhart, by his own accounting, works as a "Systems Administor" at a Torrington, Connecticut firm called Intergis LLC.  He describes the work as "Computer Software Industry" functions:


Intergis makes tracking and telemetry products, remarkably similar to Carrier IQ, although currently targeting corporate users.  The company's product gives businesses a way to GPS tracking to secure their mobile device fleet or coordinate employee travel.
 
At the heart of Carrier IQ's application is the same functionality -- phone GPS tracking -- that allows carriers to assess and improve their network.  Thus while Mr. Eckhart's firm markets its app to business customers only, at this point, it would be almost trivial for it to add wireless signal and battery life gathering and create a Carrier IQ competitor for the consumer market.  And if his firm does that, they likely now realize how to escape observation -- by avoiding obviously named apps and egregious prints to the debugging screen.
 
The interesting thing is that if Carrier IQ gets the boot or gets sued out of existence, it will create a vacuum in terms of telemetry gathering in the consumer space.  As a company already deeply invested in tracking and telemetry solutions, that's just the kind of thing that could allow Intergis to get its talons on the consumer market.

We'll likely never know what the true motives are, but file this under "very interesting" in the ongoing Carrier IQ saga.

Sources: Trevor Eckhart, GISCafe


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RE: Classic "Shoot The Messenger"
By JasonMick (blog) on 12/13/2011 5:32:55 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
As I said in another thread, first you attack Trevor by calling him a "novice" thus implying he didn't know what he was doing. Now he knows too much?

Trevor called himself a "beginning" developer in his early posts to the XDA forum and early articles. How is that an insult?

I'm a beginning developer too...
quote:
Your theory of competitive sabotage is "out there". No one else has picked up the story because your theory is just plain stupid. You have no evidence that Telogis has their own consumer phone spyware (corporations specifically want telemetry apps for their mobile devices). And even if they did have their own consumer spyware, by tarnishing Carrier IQ they would be shooting themselves in the foot. The whole mobile metrics industry will be tarnished by the Carrier IQ saga.

Did you not read the article? Intergis CURRENTLY MARKETS a smartphone tracking product could be trivially modified to act in a similar fashion to Carrier IQ. If you can get as far as Intergis has, it's not exactly rocket science to make these slight modifications to your Android app.

Your willful ignorance here is astounding.

Also -- Carrier IQ is not spyware. Get that through your head. It's a poorly implemented code installed by your device's administrator, which is the carrier and/or device maker. If you don't like it root your device to become the administrator. Then you can delete it and do whatever you want.


RE: Classic "Shoot The Messenger"
By ghost.image on 12/14/2011 9:00:38 PM , Rating: 2
I have to defend Jason here and Flash. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. What Jason states is fact. Conspiracy theories aside it is of interest and given the large number of class action law suites it will also be of interest to the courts and authorities if any action is taken.
Trevor may have been working as a developer on his own time and separate from his job, however the fact that he does work for a competing firm in the same space does raise questions. Like Jason stated it is putting it under the "very interesting" category.
I have also heard the phrase used where there is smoke there is fire by a lot of folks so take from it what you will.
I would also suggest checking out the latest release from Carrier IQ: http://www.carrieriq.com/company/PR.20111212.pdf
It is a nineteen page release with an in depth look on their software designed to answer much of the questions which have been raised. It is an interesting read. There are credits given to Trevor and Dan Rosenberg in the article.


By ghost.image on 12/14/2011 10:09:13 PM , Rating: 2
You will also note to Jason's comment on root software that in fact those questions are addressed in the document.
The fact the Google's CEO called it a keylogger is untrue.
To that end Carrier IQ met with the FCC and FTC today along with congressmen to address questions raised. They went on their own the the Feds to start their own inquiry! If you had something to hide you don't show up on the Fed's doorstep and request a meeting..
It is pretty unfounded.
I think we will see changes in the future, and my hope is that questions regarding carrier control over devices on their network is answered definitively.


RE: Classic "Shoot The Messenger"
By Jalek on 12/15/2011 7:14:10 PM , Rating: 2
All I need to know about Carrier IQ and their credibility is on their website. "When Carrier IQ's products are deployed, data gathering is done in a way where the end user is informed or involved."

Neither is true, why expect everything else to be?


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