Carrier IQ agrees to settle privacy lawsuit

According to court papers filed on Monday, Carrier IQ has agreed to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging that its software for mobile devices violated consumers’ privacy.

The lawsuit was brought after a researcher posted a video online in November of 2011 showing Carrier IQ logging keystrokes. Carrier IQ has since admitted that the software sometimes logs contents of messages but claim that the data isn’t readable and that the software was intended to help mobile carriers discover the source of network problems.

Class-action lawsuits were also filed against six device manufacturers including HTC, Samsung and LG Electronics although all of them were consolidated in front of U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco. Although Carrier IQ has agreed to settle, the device manufacturers haven’t agreed to settle. But according to papers filed in court this week, the manufacturers are scheduled to meet next week with consumers’ lawyers and a mediator.

The Federal Trade Commission has also gotten involved in this issue by accusing HTCof allegedly installing Carrier IQ in such a way that many third-party apps could access “users’ keystrokes and gain access to the phone numbers users’ called, browsing histories and other data.” HTCeventually settled the charges last February by agreeing to issue software patches and establishing a security program with security audits for 20 years.

The settlement still needs to be finalized by the court.