Official company responses to regarding Carrier IQ software and its use by smart-phone makers and service providers haven't satisfied Senator Al Franken, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy Technology and the Law.

Yesterday, Senator Franken (D-Minn.) said in a statement that he was still "very troubled" by the official replies he's received from his initial inquiry into Carrier IQ software and its data-gathering capability. From the responses submitted by Carrier IQ, At&T, HTC, Samsung, and Sprint, Senator Franken believes the right for consumers to "control their private information" is "not being respected." In particular, the senator's statement said:

It appears that Carrier IQ has been receiving the contents of a number of text messages—even though they had told the public that they did not. I'm also bothered by the software's ability to capture the contents of our online searches—even when users wish to encrypt them. So there are still many questions to be answered here and things that need to be fixed.

According to the Washington Post, Carrier IQ company executives met with officials at the Federal Trade Commission and at the Federal Communications Commission. And while those meetings were not officially confirmed, Andrew Coward, senior vice president for marketing at Carrier IQ, told the newspaper the company has sought meeting with both agencies "to answer any and all questions" regarding its software and privacy concerns. Coward added he was "not aware of an official investigation" by either agency.

And in a statement released yesterday, Coward said the company looks "forward to our ongoing dialogue with the Senator to answer his additional questions."

Responses from wireless service providers and phone makers to Sen. Franken's Carrier IQ letter are also shedding light on how far-reaching Carrier IQ software may be among consumers.

For example, in AT&T's letter to Senator Franken, the company said Carrier IQ software is installed on 11 "devices"—models such as LG Thrill and Motorola Atrix 2. While the software can be found on approximately 900,000 such devices, the wireless providers collects data from only 575,000 devices. The information gathered—the date, time, and location of an event, like dialed or received call, dropped call, or attempted call with no signal—is collected once every 24 hours and then deleted after 60 days.

Sprint's response reveals the wireless carrier has the Carrier IQ software installed on 26 million mobile phones and tablet computers. However, it collects data from only 1.3 million of those devices. The company did not specify exact mobile devices that have the software installed. It did state, however, that the data gleaned from the Carrier IQ tool is not used "for any purpose not specifically related to certifying that a device is able to operate on Sprint's network or otherwise improve network operations and customer experiences."

Both Samsung and HTC state they do not collect or use any information from Carrier IQ, however, the software may be installed on mobile devices as requested by wireless service providers. Some smart phones that have Carrier IQ installed: Samsung Salaxy S II, Samsung Replenish, HTC Evo 3D, and the HTC Vivid.

Sen. Franken's statement on Carrier IQ responses [Sen. Al Franken website]
Carrier IQ's response to Sen. Franken's Nov. 30, 2011 letter (PDF) [via Sen. Franken's website]
Understanding Carrier IQ Technology (PDF) [Carrier IQ]
AT&T's response (PDF) [via Sen. Franken's website]
Sprint's response (PDF) [via Sen. Franken's website]
Samsung's response (PDF) [via Sen. Franken's website]
HTC's response (PDF) [via Sen. Franken's website]
Carrier IQ Response on Privacy Falls Short, U.S. Senators Say [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
Carrier IQ faces federal probe into allegations software tracks cellphone data [Washington Post]
Franken Still 'Troubled' by Carrier IQ Despite Company Responses [PCMag.com]