They don't have access to read it from the phone, they have access to see what is sent to and from your phone. The original design of Carrier IQ is a text file that houses information that currently sends network coverage issues to the carrier. The file itself has more capabilities then just that, and the company that blew the whistle on this failed to notice what each text file is using. Instead they focused on the worse case scenario and threw that data out there and got what they wanted, attention. Carrier's don't need a simple text file to spy on people, they have real time software that allows them to see the data as it happens.
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They don't have access to read it from the phone, they have access to see what is sent to and from your phone. The original design of Carrier IQ is a text file that houses information that currently sends network coverage issues to the carrier. The file itself has more capabilities then just that, and the company that blew the whistle on this failed to notice what each text file is using. Instead they focused on the worse case scenario and threw that data out there and got what they wanted, attention. Carrier's don't need a simple text file to spy on people, they have real time software that allows them to see the data as it happens.