Apple grilled in Germany over Carrier IQ investigations

Late last week, the fear of your smartphone being infested by a rootkit program planted by Carrier IQ, one of the leading providers of mobile Intelligence solutions in the wireless industry began doing rounds. While Android and iOS-powered smartphones were the ones suspected to have been infected, RIM and Nokia stated  that their smartphones were safe.

Disabling support for Carrier IQ (Image credit: Getty Images)

Now, a Bloomberg report confirms that Cupertino-based, Apple, whose iOS-powered smartphones were among those suspected, are being grilled by European Privacy regulators. Germany’s Bavarian State Authority for Data Protection, in the wake of investigations sweeping through the U.K., France, Ireland and Italy. Apple, however has assured the authorities that it will quit supporting the device, altogether.

An e-mailed statement received by Bloomberg from Apple has revealed that, "We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update,With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information."