by Robert Herron
Sprint 4G Rollout Updates
Friday, December 16, 2011 - 12:42 PM MST

Today, Sprint announced that it is no longer collecting information using Carrier IQ. It has also been rumored through Geek.com that Sprint has requested OEM's to strip Carrier IQ from new devices.

Sprint has had to take these steps due to consumers crying foul since the Carrier IQ debate began a few weeks ago.

Quote

 

Sprint has offered this release:

We have weighed customer concerns and we have disabled use of the tool so that diagnostic information and data is no longer being collected. We are further evaluating options regarding this diagnostic software as well as Sprint’s diagnostic needs. At Sprint, we work hard to earn the trust of our customers and believe this course of action is in the best interest of our business and customers.

 

To reiterate, Sprint does not look at the content of customer messages, emails, photos, videos, keystrokes, etc. using the diagnostic tools offered by Carrier IQ. Customers can trust that we look at only enough information through the Carrier IQ tool reporting aggregated, anonymized metrics, to understand the customer experience with devices and how we can improve our performance and enhance the customer experience.

 

Further, as we’ve said, Sprint has not used Carrier IQ diagnostics to profile customers, to serve targeted advertising, or for any purpose not specifically related to certifying that a device is able to operate on our network or to otherwise improve the customer experience or our network operations. We have used Carrier IQ to certify devices prior to launching them on our network and after launch to review device functionality on our network (i.e., to better understand where dropped calls occur, identifying gaps in cell tower coverage, etc.)

A key element of our privacy practices involves communicating with our customers about our privacy practices. The Sprint privacy policy explains that certain data is collected automatically by Sprint to ensure a high quality of service to our customers, including how a device is functioning when being used with different applications and about our network performance. The information collected using the Carrier IQ tool is tailored to provide aggregated information relevant to and for the particular purpose of:

• Certification and testing of devices;
• understanding device performance to determine when issues are occurring and how to resolve them; and
• analyzing our network performance and identify where we should be improving service.