AT&T Logo (Photo : Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
AT&T has purchased parts of the Carrier IQ phone monitoring startup, including software rights and some staff members. The major wireless carrier was one of the customers of the company that became controversial in 2011 after it was discovered its software could monitor smartphones users without their knowledge or permission.
Tech Crunch reported that AT&T purchased some assets and employees of the startup company. That business move basically shut down Carrier IQ.
The company had tracked a wide array of information. It included the places and times people made phone calls or sent texts, which mobile apps they used, and their Web browsing habits, according to Engadget.
AT&T has admitted it installed Carrier IQ software on some handsets after the 2011 controversy. However, the nationwide telecom claims that its data collection follows its Privacy Policy and is used to improve customers' wireless and network experience.
Carrier IQ's tracking software was found on 150 million smartphones. It resulted in phone makers including Apple, T-Mobile, and HTC either admitting they had installed CIQ or unequivocally denying that they had taken that action.
After the big controversy, the Mobile Device Privacy Act was introduced in the United States Congress, in order to prevent such data collection. However, the bill never became law, according to The Verge.
Engadget points out that while AT&T purchased the software rights of Carrier IQ but did not buy the entire company. Thus, it will not be involved in any ongoing lawsuits against it, which include major wireless carriers and the U.S. government.
Carrier IQ was founded in 2005 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
