An earlier Sprint post revealed that the pending firmware version, due for Jan. 12 release, would be a security update. AndroidCentral reported this week that it would also boost battery life and offer an updated Peep client to align with Twitter.
After the version was released, programmers and hackers began delving into it. "Folks who have checked around in the manage applications
tab have noticed that 'HTC IQAgent' and 'IQRD,' both of which were
Carrier IQ, are no longer present on the device after the update,"
according to AndroidCentral.
Sprint, one of several carriers that use the Carrier IQ software,
confirmed in December that it had "disabled use of the tool so that
diagnostic information data is no longer being collected," according to a
story at MobileBurn, quoting from a Sprint email statement.
The HTC EVO 3D update may indicate that Sprint has ordered its
handset partners to remove the software entirely. Email requests to
Carrier IQ and Sprint for comment have not yet received replies.
Carrier IQ exploded into public awareness
in November, in the wake of an online analysis and YouTube video by
Trevor Eckhart, a Connecticut-based systems analyst and amateur security
researcher. Eckhart claimed that the output of the Android
LogCat utility showed that Carrier IQ was a "rootkit" that was
collecting a wide range of personal information and, presumably, sending
it to Sprint. A firestorm of accusation followed, with Carrier IQ, and
its carrier customers, being accused of keylogging, spying and tracking.
But more detailed analysis
by at least two other professional security researchers found that
Eckhart was confusing Carrier IQ's actions with those of debug
statements mistakenly left in the Android code by HTC's own programmers.
In fact, Carrier IQ was collecting performance related data for
optimizing the end users' experience, no more and no less.