Pirate Things / Sprint Orders Removal of Carrier IQ

According to Geek.com Sprint has ordered OEMs remove Carrier IQ from all of its devices. Carrier IQ, which is an intelligence gathering and diagnostics program that helps cellular carriers obtain various information about their customers' mobile devices. Included, but not limited to most used applications, how much memory the applications are using, call dropping, and any other metrics the cellular carrier may implement. However there has been lawsuits filed against HTC, and Samsung regarding the usage of Carrier IQ, that it was allegedly recording private information on the mobile device, and transmitting the private information.

The lawsuit filed followed with:

In mid-November, software developer Trevor Eckhart published a video blog illustrating the operation of the CIQ software recording keystrokes, including information sent to secure websites using HTTPS security protocols used in e-commerce and other security-sensitive sites. After Eckhart published his discovery and documents he found on CIQ’s website, CIQ accused him of copyright violations and threatened legal actions unless he capitulated to the company’s demands. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a public-interest digital rights watchdog stepped in to defend Eckhart and CIQ later apologized to Eckhart and rescinded its demands. -- Hagens Berman

December 12, 2011 a document was released in response (PDF below) about the usage of Carrier IQ, and what cellular carriers may implement. It goes on to state that the data collected may vary depending on the agreements made by that Network Operator to the customer.
Tutorials have surfaced revealing forcible ways to remove Carrier IQ from a mobile device on a customer's demand, while Sprint (at the time of writing this) have said they will be removing the software. Verizon spokesman Jeffry Nelson said they do not utilize Carrier IQ, however there are still other cellular carriers unaccounted for. AT&T has been noted to use the mobile intelligence and diagnostics program on a select number of devices, including their own called Mark The Spot. Mark The Spot, unlike Carrier IQ may be downloaded by the customer's choice, according to Phone Arena.
Carrier IQ, AT&T, Sprint, Samsung, and HTC have been discussing the usage and reach of the mobile software. U.S. Senator of Minnesota, Al Franken said he was "still very troubled by what's going on," according to Bloomberg.

To read further about the discussion (with documents) visit Bloomberg's article, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-16/carrier-iq-response-on-privacy-falls-short-u-s-senators-say.html.

https://twitter.com/#!/VZWjeffrey/status/142387582951632896
http://www.phonearena.com/news/AT-T-uses-Carrier-IQ-and-its-own-tool-called-Mark-the-Spot_id24844
http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile/sprint-orders-all-oems-to-strip-carrier-iq-from-their-hardware-20111216/
http://www.journalfive.org/2011/12/carrier-iq-with-possible-illegal.html 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-16/carrier-iq-response-on-privacy-falls-short-u-s-senators-say.html
http://www.hbsslaw.com/newsroom/?nid=2143