You may remember the “minor” security update for the HTC EVO 3D that Sprint rolled out a few days ago, but I bet you didn’t know it had a hidden surprise (don’t worry it’s a good surprise). It appears Sprint was kind enough to remove Carrier IQ from the HTC EVO 3D as slyly as they implemented it. This is great news for EVO 3D users looking to get that monkey off their back.

In case you hadn’t heard, Carrier IQ is an analytics company whose software was loaded onto millions of devices at the request of manufacturers and carriers. The only problem was, they failed to appropriately inform customers of its presence and the types of information being gathered. Carriers and manufacturers use such companies to gather pertinent information regarding a users experience to help further develop and provide the best user experience possible (those are the claims at least). Things like how often a customer uses a particular app or how often they’re text messaging helps for manufacturers to decide what’s most important to a user. Unfortunately, Carrier IQ was logging just about every possible move you made and working well beyond their boundaries. To make matters worse, a security researcher found Carrier IQ capturing encrypted data in plain text. Needless to say, it’s a major privacy concern and one that was being perpetrated unbeknownst to the customer.

We’re glad see it go and it’s a welcomed surprise of Sprint’s update to the EVO 3D. Many carriers will be slowly phasing out Carrier IQ anyways, distancing themselves from the debacle that they essentially caused.

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• Sourcecosmogeek