In defense of CarrierIQ

December 13, 2011 — xanthippa

Over the last month or two, I have been highly critical of CarrierIQ and the sneaky way they gather smart-phone user information without informing the user they are doing so, much less providing an opt-out choice.

CarrierIQ has taken a lot of heat from a lot of places over this.  Now, they are defending themselves:  in the name of fairness, I think it is important to bring this defense to your attention.

The full document can be read here.

In the first few lines. they thank Trevor Eckhart for “for sharing his findings with us”.  That is quite a change from their initial response, when they threatened to sue him if he continued to expose their practices…until the Electronic Frontier Foundation stood up for him, that is.  It’s nice to see that, deep down inside, they are really swell guys and gals who care…

Reading ‘between the lines’, here are a few excerpts from CarrierIQ’s statement:

“…Carrier IQ software automatically passes the hardware serial number and the subscriber serial number (e.g. IMEI/IMSI) to the Network Operator who can then match to their customer records…”

i.e.  CarrierIQ matches the phone and user information in their database, making it possible to identify individual user’s phone habits as opposed to just collecting  ‘anonymous operational data’ that could be used to analyze network performance without compromising user privacy.

*   *   *

“Q. “Why is my battery only lasting 3 hours and my phone keeps crashing?”

 A. Because you have loaded a new application abcxyz and this is draining the battery quickly and making your phone unstable.”

i.e. CarrierIQ monitors what applications are on your phone.

*   *   *

“Q. “Why does my phone drop calls when I drive on Interstate 80?”

 A. It looks like you were dropping calls between exit 34 and exit 35 and we are upgrading our towers to improve performance at that section of the highway.”

i.e.  CarrierIQ records your location with respect to phone usage.

*   *   *

“The Carrier IQ software installed on the mobile device is called the IQ Agent.

. . .

The IQ Agent has been implemented on feature phones, smart phones, data modems and tablets.”

Nice to know…  I guess I’ll pass on that tablet computer and put my IT guys to hacking the modem:  if it is doing what the smart phones are doing, it’s time for a jail-break!

*   *   *

“In typical deployments, the IQ Agent uploads diagnostic data once per day, at a time when the device is not being used.

. . .

Network Operators who are Carrier IQ customers do not charge consumers for this upload nor does it show up as usage of consumer data plans.”

In other words, you are not given any clue that one corporation is beaming data from your phone or tablet and selling it to another corporation.  Nice!

Well, at least they don’t make you pay for it…

*    *    *

” [Preload] version of the IQ Agent cannot typically be deleted by an end user but only gathers and forwards metrics from the device if it is enabled with a profile …”

My emphasis.

*   *   *

“Network Operators typically prefer the embedded version of the software as it provides the most comprehensive diagnostic set. This embedded information is used to understand which control signals are passed between the mobile device and the handset…”

Again, the emphasis is mine.

*   *   *

I think this ought to be sufficient for a Q.E.D. – but the document goes on:

“Network Operators and handset manufacturers determine whether and how they deploy Carrier IQ software and what metrics that software will gather and forward to the Network Operator.”

Translation:  “All of your data is belongs to us, you puny little humans!  Mu-ha-haaaaa!!!!!”  

OK, let’s not go overboard here.

Let’s be fair!

Carrier IQ suggests that they themselves do not make the call about just how much data to collect about you – they will only collect and pass on the data which their customers, the Network Operators and handset manufacturers, will pay them to collect about you! 

Mu-ha-haaaaa!!!!!

*   *   *

“An embedded version of the IQ Agent cannot be deleted by consumers through any method provided by Carrier IQ.”

Is there an echo in here?  Mu-ha-haaaaa!!!!

*   *   *

“A new profile can be downloaded to a mobile device when it periodically checks-in with the network server. After receiving the new profile from the network server, the device will begin gathering the metrics and pre-processing according to these instructions.”

Translation:  you complain – we’ll ferret out your secrets!

*   *   *

And that is just the first half of the document…

In the rest of the document, to the best of my reading, they assure us they are working on a ‘fix’ that would make it less possible for us to find and remove the IQ Agent, they admit to (at times) collecting SMS messages (but that was a mistake and they don’t do it any more), collecting phone call data, URL information, collecting keystroke data (but only under ‘specific conditions’ and when the ‘collector’ wants it – not for themselves, not at all….plus it’s not ‘on purpose’, just a by-product of other functions), and so on.

And then there is IQ Insight…  This is the bit that collects all the location information:  letting ‘operators’ to really drill down through your data!

Oh – and they say they only sell your information once…

But, don’t take my word for it:  I am sure my reading of this document is highly flawed and imperfect, as what they say in their ‘conclusion’ does not, in my never-humble-opinion, match up fully with what they say in the body of the text.  Obviously, it must be my understanding which is flawed.

It would be much better if you were to read the document for yourself and form your own opinion about CarrierIQ’s most illuminating explanations.

And, if these do not send you screaming for a throw-away phone, I have this lovely medieval bridge in Prague I’d love to sell you!

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Clay and Water: Illustrated biography of Mohammad

December 13, 2011 — xanthippa

Clay and Water is running a special feature:  an illustrated biography of Mohammad, with references from the Koran and the Hadith.

Check it out.

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FOI request for FBI use of data secretly collected from smart phones: denied!

December 13, 2011 — xanthippa

A while back, I  posted about CarrierIQ and its ‘rootkit of all evil’.

In it are links which demonstrate how CarrierIQ has embedded code into smart phones which runs in the background and is not easily accessible to the phone’s user (with no notification to the user that it is running, much less choices to ‘opt out’).  This code records everything the phone is used for and reports this information back to CarrierIQ – even if the user is not in any contract with the company, or has indeed ever heard of its existence.  This information contains:

  • GPS information
  • incoming and outgoing phone calls
  • details of internet access and use, including encrypted data (like passwords)
  • all keystroke information

In another post, I have written about INDECT:  the EU’s proposed regime of continuous surveillance of member states’ citizenry for the purpose of identifying ‘unusual behaviour’, which would then be brought to the attention of police for ‘follow up’.  ‘Unusual behaviour’ would include (but not be limited to):

  • lingering too long in public areas
  • abnormal transit system use
  • internet habits that include visiting potentially ‘antisocial websites’
  • associating with ‘antisocial elements’
  • abnormal shopping habits

(In that post, I also provide a link to an article about CarrierIQ’s attempt to silence the researcher who first published information about its surveillance practices.)

The potential for abuse is so strong, it is difficult to overstate it…it seems that, increasingly, legislation is being drafted and passed all around the world not to safeguard against it, but to take advantage of it.

Here is an analysis (by a lawyer) of SOPA, just one such proposed pieces of legislation (in the USA) and the ways in which it breaches the constitution.

But if you are still not convinced that police agencies are warrantlessly accessing vast amounts of private data collected about citizens without their permission or knowledge, here is another piece of information you should consider:

‘A recent FOIA request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for “manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ” was met with a telling denial. In it, the FBI stated it did have responsive documents – but they were exempt under a provision that covers materials that, if disclosed, might reasonably interfere with an ongoing investigation.’

Indeed.

Our constitutions were written with the specific purpose of protecting the civil rights of citizens from their governments.  Most of us have forgotten this:  and our governments are increasingly passing laws which circumvent (if not directly breech) our unalienable rights which all written constitutions (starting with the Magna Carta) are but imperfect expressions of.

We need to wake up and oppose this passive tolerance of the increasingly corrupt and oppressive surveillance society – before it is too late!

H/T:  Tyr

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When borders are fluid…

December 12, 2011 — xanthippa

I knew a guy who claimed that within his lifetime, held four ditinct citizenships.  At different times,  he was an Austrian, Czechoslovak, Slovak and Hungerian – he even held Hungarian citizenships at two separate times!

Yet, he never moved!

Simply, his house happened to be on a bit of land that was held by different countries at different times,  all while he lived in it…

This is the reality of human existence.

As nations come into and out of existence, as they jostle with each other for territory, this sort of thing is inevitable.

Now, imagine that all these countries which had a prior ownership claim went to, say, the EU and demanded that this land be returned to them, due to the fact they held it in the past and, even if another country usurped it, they had never really given up their claim to it:  it would be a mess!

In fact , it would be exactly the same sort of mess as the multiple land claims being made by various native groups over land in Ontario and Quebec – including over the bit of land know as the Parliament Hill.

Just like in Europe, the various nations in North America occupied different areas at different times – as their fortunes waxed and vaned, so did their territory.  Just like in Europe, at different times, the same land would be claimed by different groups.  And, just like in Europe, territorial wars took place…

This just goes to show that this is a function of the human condition!

However, in Canada, the various Native groups can each make a separate claim on the same piece of land – a claim which the courts consider in isolation from competing Native claims over the same land.  And, just as they each had a valid claim on the land at different times, each claim can be supported by some evidence.

Yet, since each claim is examined separately, the court cannot take the competing claims into accout.  In effect, this causes the Canadian taxpayers to buy the land (settle the claims) over and over and over…  No sooner is one claim settled than another one crops up.

To call this a highly flawed system is a serious understatement.

How to solve this in a way that is fair and equitable to the Native groups with land claims as well as to the Canadaians who hold legal title to the land and have invested their life savings into a home on this land?

How to solve this in a way that is fair to different Native groups making conflicting claims, when their claims would be considered at different times and under differing political conditions?

We do have the Assembly of First Nations – resolving land claims is one of their major ‘raison d’etres’:

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative organization of the First Nations in Canada. There are over 630 First Nation’s communities in Canada. The AFN Secretariat, is designed to present the views of the various First Nations through their leaders in areas such as: Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, Economic Development, Education, Languages and Literacy, Health, Housing, Social Development, Justice, Taxation, Land Claims, Environment, and a whole array of issues that are of common concern which arise from time to time.

The solution I propose would not be easy, but it would be simple and fair:

  1. All First Nations land claims – currently pending, whether under negotiation or court action, or ones as yet undeclared – would be registered with the AFN.  (The AFN would need to make a call for land claim registration, with a firm ‘register-by-date’.)
  2. In cases of multiple claims over the same land by various Aboriginal groups, the AFN would engage all claimants in constructive negotiations, with full adherence to Native traditions and methods of dispute resolution.
  3. Once the AFN had resolved conflicting land claims with respect to each other, they would then present all the claims together (though only one claim per one tract of land – or with all the various claims to one tract of land by various parties grouped together for, perhaps, a ‘weighted’ ruling), with all the supporting documentation, to either the Supreme Court of Canada or some special land-claim-resolution judicial court that the AFN, Federal and Provincial/Territorial governments would agree on specifically for this purpose.  This Court can then rule on each land claim following a thorough an complete review all of the harmonized land claims and apply uniform criteria when it considers them, ensuring that equal standards are applied in all the cases.

I suspect that this is the only way we could even come close to resolving this issue fairly.

Short of this type of action, I do not see any way to avoid protracted legal quagmire – in perpetuity!

H/T:  BCF

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Connection between the EU crisis and Attawapiscat crisis

December 11, 2011 — xanthippa

At a first look, the fly-in only Native community on the shores of James Bay called Attawapiskat has very little in common with the European Union.

Both are mired in financial crises and allegations of corruption, but surely, that is too common these days to claim there is a connection between them, no?

Well, actually…

When one works through the minutiae of surface details, there are some very core similarities beneath.

In case you are not familiar with either one of these two situations, here is a highly abbreviated summary of each:

*   *   *

The Attawapiskat Native community af about 1800 people is a reservation and as such, governed by the complex and bureaucratic Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.  The ‘rules’ are soul-suckingly bizarre.  For example, the land of the reservation is collectively owned by the Aboriginal Band – so no individual may own any piece of land, like, say, to build a house on, or to look after and improve.

‘The Band’ gets money to both function as a government and as a community (supporting each individual of the band).  The reported amount of money that flows in differs wildly from one source to another and the paperwork seems about as clear as mud.  The Band receives money from the Federal Government, the Provincial Government, Casino income, plus there are claims they also got money from other sources, but that, really, is irrelevant.

The residents are living is sub-standard housing with inadequate insulation (not the kind of home for spending the winter on the shores of James Bay) – but with flat screen TVs…  The same attitude permeates the community:  the school was shut down close to a decade ago because it had been built on a site contaminated by a diesel spill – since then, no new school has been built, but if I am not mistaken, $43 million has been spent on schooling.

Oh, and even though it is a fly-in community (no roads lead there), the chief has had a 60k SUV flown in for her use…which only goes to support the common saying:  ‘the chief’s driveway is always paved’!  (FYI – this also seems to hold true for condominium association presidents.)

*   *   *

The EU started innocently enough:  as a free-trade zone.  Who could oppose the increased economic opportunities of a Europe-wide free trade zone?

Since this is a supra-national organization, an independent administrative body was needed to be set up to harmonize the conditions within member states in order to ensure that the free trade is played on a level playing field.  This ‘administrative body’ grew and it grew until it became the European Parliament, complete with a constitution (the Lisbon Treaty), a flag and an anthem:  OK, I am oversimplifying the process – perhaps to the point of error – but the result is a huge bureaucratic machine which increasingly controls more and more aspects of life of the individuals living in member states.

The EU has, in all but the name, become the United States of Europe.

One of the unique features of this political entity is that all the bills are drafted by the bureaucrats and then forwarded on to the parliament.  The parliament debates them, may propose changes, then votes on the changes – and on the changes alone – because the parliament does not have the ability to not pass the bills into law.

It is mandatory for member states to enact all EU laws into their national laws – opting out is not permitted.

*   *   *

So, what do they have in common?

A very nasty feedback loop:  the people who make the rules are not accountable to the people whom they are ruling!

In both cases, the bureaucracies which control the flow of funds are so insulated from the taxpayers who supply the money that they can spend it witht impunity.

In the case of the Canadian Natives (Attawapiskat may be in the news now, but it is definitely not the only community in this situation), the ‘bureaucracies’ are both the Ministry and the Band Council:  both are irresponsibly spending funds.  Since there are multiple levels of bureaucracy, neither can properly be held accountable…

The Ministry is over-bloated, with bureaucrats justifying their paychecks by shuffling papers and increasing red tape.  The Band leadership has the ability to spend the funds without being accountable to the people on whose behalf it spends it.  It is a tragedy – though hardly an unpredictible one…  The bureaucrats and the ruling elites (paid off by the bureaucrats) control more and more aspects of lives of the individuals within their jurisdiction while those ‘ruled’ have little to no legal means available to them to affect change.

In the EU case, the ruling bureaucracy is also ‘several layers’ insulated from the voters. And, as it exacts great amounts of taxpayer monies from member nation states, it is able to generously fund the ‘ruling elites’ within their member states (or within prospective member states:  Croatia is an excellent example of where the EU amply funds the ‘political elite’ in order to make it profitable for them to support policies detrimental to their fellow citizens).

This means that the interest of the ‘political elites’ is divorced from (and quite possibly in direct opposition to) the interests of the citizenry.  In other words, the bureaucrats and the ruling elites (paid off by the bureaucrats) control more and more aspects of lives of the individuals within their jurisdiction while those ‘ruled’ have little to no legal means available to them to affect change.

In both cases, the political elites receive funds without being accountable to the citizenry.

In both cases, it boils down to ‘taxation without representation’ – and in both cases this reality is shielded by layers of bureaucracy…

No wonder both are in such a mess!!!

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Vihart: ‘Doodling in Math Class: Triangle Party’

December 9, 2011 — xanthippa

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Tired of PayPal’s games?

December 8, 2011 — xanthippa

About a year ago, we had a bit of trouble with PayPal:  not only had they frozen my son’s account with birthday money in it, they actually went back and reversed payments to some vendors which they had approved several days earlier! We had received the goods, the payment disappeared from the vendors’ account and the vendors were seriously unimpressed.

With us!

It took me a while to contact these vendors, explain the situation and beg them not to suspend our accounts because of an unforseen action by PayPal, which we had no control over.  (In the case of Steam, loosing the account would also have lost us all the games we had previously bought on that site over several years.)

Then, I started jumping through all kinds of ‘hoops’ that PayPal dictated, so that they would release the funds.  I did everything – and fulfilled their every demand, however unreasonable, to the best of my abilities.

They still would not release the funds.

After well over a month, they finally re-activated the account:  for a day.  We had 24 hours to spend the money – whatever was not spent would be frozen for ever…

At this point, I will rather not buy something than use PayPal to do it.

Which is why I am glad to hear that more and more retailers are looking at PayPal alternatives.  Here is a good article about one company’s search and why they ditched PayPal for Stripe:  if you receive money through PayPal, this is required reading!

Posted in technology. Tags: . 3 Comments »

US government abandons due process as it censors a polular blog for over a year

December 8, 2011 — xanthippa

This is truly astonishing – and why SOPA and similar such nonsense must be opposed by all pro-free-speech people!!!

‘Imagine if the US government, with no notice or warning, raided a small but popular magazine’s offices over a Thanksgiving weekend, seized the company’s printing presses, and told the world that the magazine was a criminal enterprise with a giant banner on their building. Then imagine that it never arrested anyone, never let a trial happen, and filed everything about the case under seal, not even letting the magazine’s lawyers talk to the judge presiding over the case. And it continued to deny any due process at all for over a year, before finally just handing everything back to the magazine and pretending nothing happened. I expect most people would be outraged. I expect that nearly all of you would say that’s a classic case of prior restraint, a massive First Amendment violation, and exactly the kind of thing that does not, or should not, happen in the United States.

But, in a story that’s been in the making for over a year, and which we’re exposing to the public for the first time now, this is exactly the scenario that has played out over the past year — with the only difference being that, rather than “a printing press” and a “magazine,” the story involved “a domain” and a “blog.”‘

Read the full story at TechDirt – and weep, because this is not the only such case.

Then get ready to fight against oppression of free speech under ALL its guises!

Posted in freedoms, opression, technology. Tags: , , , , , , . 2 Comments »

Cancer treatment breakthrough – from a 17-year-old!

December 8, 2011 — xanthippa

This is one of those feel-good stories that just makes you wonder…

‘Her creation is being heralded as a “Swiss army knife of cancer treatment.” Zhang managed to develop a nanoparticle that can be delivered to the site of a tumor through the drug salinomycin. Once there it kills the cancer stem cells. However, Zhang went further and included both gold and iron-oxide components, which allow for non-invasive imaging of the site through MRI and Photoacoustics.’

For her success, Angela Zhang was awarded the grand prize at the Siemens competition which highligts research excellence at high school level.

Wow!

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Video of the December 3rd 2011 Caledonia arrests

December 7, 2011 — xanthippa

Read the comentary at Voice Of Canada.

This video raises a number of things that I have been wondering about.

For example, the uniformed police officers do not display their badge numbers, making it impossible to identify them.  Is this legal?  If so, should it remain so?

Another question:  what recourse does a population have if a police force either refuses to enforce the laws of the land or enforces illegal orders?

In my never-humble-opinion, the only way an organizational corruption of this scale can be tackled is by holding the individuals within the organization personally responsible for their actions, including holding them personally responsible for following illegal orders to the maximum level the law permits.  Yes, this would mean legal action against individual police officers – if not criminal, then civil – even if these police officers are nice individuals.  Still, if they follow an illegal order, they must be accountable for this breech of law.

Of course, these are easy words to type and there is a world of difference between writing this and actually doing something about it.  Still, one ought to gather as much information first…

So, if you are knowledgable on this topic, please, comment and educate me on the laws, rules and procedures – and any other options legally available.  It would be much appreciated.

Because to my way of thinking, this is not a ‘native/non-native’ issue:  this is a policing issue and equality before the law issue!

 

UPDATE:  Here is a comment posted by Mark Vandermaas, which, in my neve-humble-opinion, is important enough to bump it into the ‘body’ of the post:

The scary part of Caledonia is that all the organizations, gov’t and NGO, that should have been pro-active in protecting the rights of the innocent were unwilling or unable to help: Human Rights Commission; Ombudsman (wanted to help, but not allowed to get involved in police issues); the Opposition (oh, how we tried); the Federal govt (not only wouldn’t they help Harper annointed Fantino as PC candidate!); the OCCPS (old agency for Police Services Act complaints); Haldimand’s Police Services Board; Haldimand Council (other than former Mayor Trainer); Cdn Civil Liberties Association (repeatedly begged them for help to no avail).

It would be hard to list here everything we tried, but some of the key things that worked well were:

1. Dr. King’s methods of peacefully confronting injustice and forcing them to violate your rights (techniques that he learned from Gandhi to influence the media and the conscience of the nation. When one protests with dignity and is willing to be verbally abused and assaulted without retaliating there is very little defence to this approach. Using it we actually caused the union radicals, anarchists, anti-Israel groups and native militants to curb their violence and aggression because – as one of them said at an anarchist’s conference, we were making THEM look like the racists by applying Dr. King’s methods. Just as King did not demonize whites, we did not demonize native people as a group (the thugs would disagree, of course). We tried our best to ensure people knew that the thugs didn’t speak for the good people of 6N.

2. Civil Lawsuits to a degree. I say that because while there were some important court victories such as the $20M Caledonia Class Action, the Brown-Chatwell settlements and some victories achieved by us via the small claim and superior courts, the fact is that racial policing is still practiced and the gov’t, 6N and the OPP have never apologized or ammended their policies.

3. Private Prosecutions under the CCofC. You know, of course, that Gary M, despite not being a lawyer, convinced the courts to charge 5 individual police officers for offences such as Mischief, Influencing Municipal Official and Obstructing Justice, and even won a case at the Court of Appeal. This has reigned in their abuses quite effectively, but apparently, they still have more to learn.

We’ve tried just about everything during the last 5 years. in the end, it’s not one magic bullet. It’s ordinary people taking advantage of every opportunity when presented and, as Gary says, ‘withstanding the test of time’ (while you’re being vilified, assaulted, and arrested). And…don’t wait for anyone to come to help. But, that’s the wonderful thing! A small group of committed people with no money, no power and no connections really can make a huge difference.

Having said all this, there were some good people who did help and paid a price for doing so. At risk of leaving someone out and inadvertently insulting them, I won’t try to list them. But one guy who doesn’t get enough credit is lawyer John Findlay of the Class Action, a lawyer who represents us in several cases including one where he helped mediate a solution whereby the OPP union finally admitted in writing they had no evidence we were inciting hate and violence. Couldn’t have done it without him.

Sorry to go on so long. Thks for listening.

Readers who want to know more should visit the Caledonia: No More Nightmares page at http://www.HelplessByBlatchford.ca which has videos and notes from our 2011 presentation of the same name in Ottawa – where you and I met. Thanks for being there, and thks for the coverage.

Mark Vandermaas
Editor, VoiceofCanada
Founder, Caledonia Victimis Project

Posted in corruption, freedoms, opression, politics, society. Tags: , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »
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