Read about the spy in your pocket!

You're being watched. In what could be the basis for a sequel to Orwell's 1984, your cell phone is logging absolutely everything you do. Every phone call, every keypress, every text message you read, every website you visit. Your cell phone is tracking it all.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Your cell phone spies on you and has been doing so for years. A program known as "Carrier IQ" is the culprit responsible for tracking everything you do with your phone. Cellular companies claim the aggregated data allows them to swiftly troubleshoot and address problems with phones and networks.

Others see it as yet another intrusion on privacy and a potential threat to safety and security.

Few people really understand how Carrier IQ works or precisely what it does. Even high-ranking corporate officials from Google to AT&T, to Sprint, and all the other major wireless networks, have very little to say about the program.

Conversely, government officials and the public might have quite a bit to say about it.

What Carrier IQ really does is track everything that happens to your mobile device. That data is then sent to a database where it is combined with data from every other cell phone on a network. That data, once compiled, allows the carriers to spot trends and tell how the phones are used. The data also helps technicians to spot problems before the public is broadly aware of them.

By all accounts, the technology is being used in a relatively benign and benevolent manner, and there is no evidence that the data of specific individuals is being deliberately and consciously monitored, but privacy advocates fear that the potential is there.

Since every phone uses this technology an expert computer hacker could theoretically spy on even the highest-ranking government officials. Just how this would be done is unclear, but any time sensitive information can be taken from a device without the owner's knowledge -- there's a concern.

Democratic Sen. Al Franken from Minnesota has already sent a letter to Carrier IQ seeking answers. He remarked that he is "very concerned" that the software "is logging and may be transmitting extraordinarily sensitive information."

It is unlikely that carrier IQ will survive long on cellular networks now that the public is aware of its existence. Verizon claims that carrier IQ does not operate on its network. Apple has announced that the latest iOS no longer uses the software. Other firms admit that the software is active on their networks, and are trying to assuage public concern by explaining the practical use of such a program.

Still, privacy advocates and government officials are not buying it. It is certain that answers and alternatives will be forthcoming in the months ahead.

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