Senator Al Franken Asks Carrier IQ to Explain Itself

I have to admit that when I first heard Al Franken was running for Senate, I didn't like him, I didn't like the fact he was an actor, and I felt he was too smug whenever I heard him talk. I basically thought it was ridiculous that another actor made his way into politics.<p>But he seems to be the only politician that is actively involved in the issues that I care about, so I admit I was completely wrong about him, and I've done an about face and actually do support his work.<p>The fact that he is questioning Carrier IQ about what they're doing is just another data point to prove that I was wrong to dismiss him.

Why is Senator Franken still using snail mail? He could've just emailed Carrier IQ from his phone. He wouldn't even have to hit send.

Why would he ask Carrier IQ to explain itself? Why not the wireless carriers and phone companies that installed this on the phones?<p>Carrier IQ makes a product. Companies are choosing to use it in a scummy way. I don't think that Carrier IQ is the bad guy here.

It's an interesting comment on governmental policy to see how quickly recent events have gone from Internet meme to Congressional attention.

I wish we could clone Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren a few dozen times.<p>Just think of how the DMCA tries to block this kind of discovery though.

Remember the emails that AT&#38;T sent out to people it suspected of tethering their phones without paying the exorbitant monthly fee (<a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-using-unauthorized-tethering-methods-to-pay/" rel="nofollow">http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/18/atandt-tells-customers-us...</a>)? Something tells me that this wonderful "diagnostic" information had something to do with it.<p>Why packet-sniff and risk legal issues when you can just look at your CarrierIQ analytics for people who opened a tethering app regularly?

I'll be impressed when he asks the NSA, FBI and NYPD to explain themselves.