Is Carrier IQ, Samsung and HTC Violating the Federal Wiretap Act?

By Karla Robinson
December 5, 2011

• After an Android security researcher discovered that CarrierIQ was capable of collecting personal information from SMS, emails, photos, keystrokes and URLs, the company has been the target of severe criticism.
• Now, CarrierIQ faces a class action lawsuit — as do Samsung and HTC — for violating the Federal Wiretap Act.
• Plaintiffs are demanding millions of dollars in penalties paid to users with the logging software on their devices.
• The company vehemently denies the charges, restating that the software is used solely to help wireless operators provide optimal service by logging information concerning dropped calls and failed messages.
• TechCrunch notes that no carriers face charges as of yet, but are likely to in the near future.

Shall I Buy Enables Social Shopping: Foodspotting for Everything Else

By Rob Scott
November 3, 2011

• Shall I Buy is a free iPhone app with the goal of combining instant social feedback for shoppers to make better purchasing decisions and possibly combat buyer’s remorse.
• A shopper can share a video, picture, price and location to engage potential followers and incite comments, and allows sharing of links through Facebook and Twitter.
• “The app is done simply, taking heavy styling cues from Instagram, but in doing so it’s effective and easy to use,” reports TheNextWeb.
• The post cites two potential downsides: 1) By default, users receive a great number of push notifications, and 2) It would be helpful to have “a way to configure notifications inside of the app itself,” rather than going to the website.
• Robert Scoble equates it to “Foodspotting for everything else.”