RIM says no CarrierIQ pre-loaded on its Smartphones
 

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This post in the BlackBerry Support Forums by BlackBerry Development Advisor Mark Sohm speaks for itself. In a nut shell, BlackBerry Smartphones do not have monitoring software CarrierIQ pre-installed on them, and wireless carriers are not authorized to add the monitoring program themselves. That's not to say it's impossible for CarrierIQ to be running on a BlackBerry. If a user or a BlackBerry Enterprise Server administrator chooses to install and authorize CarrierIQ on the device, that's certainly well within their rights.

CarrierIQ was one of the hot topics in our CrackBerry Podcast today. In fact, we talked about this very announcement during the show. Replay is on its way soon.  In the meantime, we've included the full text below for your convenience.

RIM is aware of a recent claim by a security researcher that an application called "CarrierIQ" is installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or consent of device users. RIM will continue to investigate reports and speculation related to CarrierIQ.

RIM can attest that it does not pre-install the CarrierIQ application on BlackBerry smartphones and has never done so. Furthermore, RIM does not authorize its carrier partners to install the CarrierIQ application on BlackBerry smartphones before sales or distribution and has never done so. RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the CarrierIQ application, nor is RIM involved in any way in the testing, promotion, or distribution of the CarrierIQ application.

If the CarrierIQ application is present on a BlackBerry smartphone, it does not mean that the CarrierIQ application has "hacked" the BlackBerry platform. It means that either the BlackBerry smartphone user or the user's BlackBerry Enterprise Server admin explicitly installed the application and authorized it to run. The user or the user's BlackBerry Enterprise Server admin has full control over which third-party software he or she installs on a BlackBerry smartphone. The BlackBerry smartphone is designed to prompt the user for consent to grant permissions to a third-party application.

All users (of any device from any manufacturer) should always avoid installing and granting permissions to applications from untrusted sources. This simple precaution mitigates the risk of malware or unwanted software being installed on a user's mobile device.

For information on BlackBerry security, visit www.blackberry.com/security.
Mark Sohm
BlackBerry Development Advisor

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