There has been a lot of press today regarding CircuitIQ, the application that runs in the background on Android and Blackberry devices that provides carriers (Verizon has been identified here in the US) information on how the phone in question is being used. The principle, while benign enough, is to provide information to the carriers about phone and network performance. The problem is that it captures a tremendous amount of information about how, were and what you do on your phone. To say that it is a privacy issue is likely a big understatement.
The good news for Windows Phone users is that it isn’t there on these devices and it never has been. Joe Belfiore, the Windows Phone Program Management Director stated on Twitter today that Windows Phone doesn’t have it.
That is about as direct an answer as you can get.
CircuitIQ represents the latest challenge of consumers versus carriers. To be fair, carriers need to know how their networks are performing and the devices on them so they can make improvements. But this type of thing should be an “opt-in” option and not on by default.
It also appears that the US Congress is going to investigate this which will really bring to light all that CircuitIQ does and what the carriers have been doing with this treasure trove of information on their users.
Stay tuned. This story is just getting started.
