Before the nation celebrated Independence Day last week, Motorola revealed a new ad for the Moto X, its upcoming flagship smartphone in collaboration with Google.  The ad boasts of a smartphone that users can design themselves.  Not really sure if Motorola meant a smartphone that is unique to each users since they would be designing it, or its just a clever marketing tactic referring only to the customization of the handset’s UI or wallpaper. However, one thing remains clear, Motorola wants consumers to be “free.”

Free from what?  There’s no telling, but it’s certainly not freedom from the government’s spying eyes since Motorola is said to be in cahoots with the NSA.

Last week, engineering expert Ben Lincoln claimed that MoMo has been collecting email addresses, usernames, passwords, GPS coordinates from pictures taken, and other information from users of Motorola devices for some time now.  He was using a Droid X2 when he discovered that the device checks in on Motorola’s server every nine minutes, and that the data is sent sent over an unencrypted HTTP channel, which means that people’s data is at risk, accessible to hackers.

No hard evidence yet if what Lincoln claims is true, but it’s not hard to imagine that Motorola is “spying” for the NSA.  After all, the phone maker is now owned by Google, one of the web giants allegedly providing the NSA direct, backdoor access to our emails, phone calls and more.

Worth noting, Lincoln has yet to try other Motorola devices if they also collect information from users, so it may be limited to Droid X2 devices, or it could be all of MoMo’s devices, even the upcoming Moto X.

Spying Services?

Lincoln is particularly worried about ‘Motorola Mobile Services’ aka “Blur,” as it outright states that it collects: “(1) your email and social network account credentials; (2) user settings and preferences; (3) your email and social network contacts; (4) your mobile phone number; and (5) the performance of applications installed on your device.” But Clause C did state that the information collected is needed to “(1) enable you to access your email and social network accounts, send and receive messages, and communicate with your contacts; (2) help Motorola troubleshoot and optimize the performance of your mobile device; (3) improve MOTOROLA MOBILE SERVICES and other Motorola products and services; and (4) communicate with you about Motorola products and services. MOTOROLA MOBILE SERVICES will never collect the specific content of your communications or copies of your files.”

Motorola Blur “is currently on several devices, including the Electrify/Photon 4G, Atrix 4G, Atrix HD, CLIQ/DEXT, Backflip, Devour, Flipout, Charm, Spice, Droid Pro, Filpside, DEFY, DEFY+, Bravo, Droid X, Droid 3, Droid 2, Droid Bionic, and Droid RAZR.

“The version found on the Droid X, Droid Pro, Droid 2, Droid Bionic, Droid 3, Electrify/Photon 4G, and DEFY is intended to be less intrusive than previous versions.”  This is the reason why Lincoln chose to the Droid X2 since it doesn’t have Motorola Blur.  The downside of this discovery is, no matter what Motorola device you are using, it could find a way to spy on its users.

“I can think of many ways that Motorola, unethical employees of Motorola, or unauthorized third parties could misuse this enormous treasure trove of information,” Lincoln wrote. “But the biggest question on my mind is this: now that it is known that Motorola is collecting this data, can it be subpoenaed in criminal or civil cases against owners of Motorola phones?”

Motorola has yet to respond to Lincoln’s allegations.

Are users at fault?

Joining Kristin Feledy in this morning’s NewsDesk is SiliconANGLE Contributing Editor John Casaretto with his Breaking Analysis on why a company is collecting such information.  Are users as much to blame for not reading the Terms and Conditions before agreeing to it?

“It appears that they’re collecting information just because they can, and you agreed to it, and that’s one of the big issues here,” Casaretto says.  “There’s no reason why the phone platform really needs to grab this much information, that often, not when the arrangement is ‘Here’s a phone, use it.’  This kind of information-grabbing with that kind of regularity, it’s troubling and it indicates there’s much more going on than quality control or they’re trying to refine the platform.  This is an information grab and they’re taking it, and it’s a big issue,” Casaretto stated.

Casaretto added that this is a case wherein the manufacturer and the user are both at fault.  The manufacturer failing to tell users outright that their information is being gathered, though it may be argued that it’s written in the terms and conditions which is often left unread by the users.  This Motorola spying scandal may serve as lesson for everyone to read and understand things first before clicking on the “I Agree” button.

For more of Casaretto’s Breaking Analysis, check out the NewsDesk video below: