In our effort to uncover just how deep the Carrier IQ rabbit hole goes, we reached out to Nokia for comment on whether that pernicious tracking software was on its phones. Trevor Eckhart, the researcher who brought Carrier IQ's activities to light, included in his early notes the fact that the software was sold with support for Nokia devices. That may indeed be the case, but Nokia's response has been categorical: no Nokia phone has ever shipped with Carrier IQ onboard.

"Nokia is aware of inaccurate reports which state that software from CarrierIQ has been found on Nokia devices. CarrierIQ does not ship products for any Nokia devices, so these reports are wrong."

That should provide some solace to freaked out smartphone users who are having to face another privacy invasion from an unforeseen source. Of course, the sacrifice of privacy in exchange for always-connected, always-communicating devices has come to be something of an implicit part of the smartphone bargain these days. Nonetheless, we'd still prefer to see carriers, who are increasingly looking like the main villains of the tale, spell out when they load software like Carrier IQ that collects extremely detailed information about the way you use a phone. Additionally, though Nokia has come out strongly against Carrier IQ today, the company has recently said it's willing to work more closely with US carriers, so this story could yet turn sour for fans of the Finnish company. Here's hoping Nokia keeps up its clean record.