SAN FRANCISCO — Software company Carrier IQ and a host of cell phone manufacturers are trying to dismantle a potentially enormous privacy case before it begins by borrowing an arbitration provision that consumers signed with their carriers.
Plaintiffs allege that Carrier IQ and manufacturers including Samsung and HTC violated their privacy by installing tracking software on their phones. Pointing to arbitration agreements that the consumers signed when they bought their phones, the defendants argue that plaintiffs’ claims must be swept out of federal court.
