Why in the world is this program on my phone?? It has access to everything!
Settings -> Manage Applications -> Keytracer
Settings -> Manage Applications -> Keytracer
Googling didn't turn up much information on what it actually does, but I do know it is part of Touchwiz...
No need to worry about it
I ordered a new phone from verizon, and when it arrived and I unwrapped it from the box, it had keytracer installed on it. I did the clean sweep factory reboot, to wipe clean everything extra that verizon didn't place on it, and it was still there, so it came from the factory! And it won't let me uninstall it.
If you were worried about it - you should be. It is everything creepy that it looks like. It can skype you and take your pic without knowing. It has free reign with your gps and call and text and internet history and key stroke records, and everything else under the sun. And when you turn your phone off, it can secretly keep it on. Yay - how nice! Some of their other applications that I knew were normal and I wouldn't usually think to check also had spyware applications piggybacked onto them that I wouldn't have thought.
I called and complained and the tech (maybe he was new) seemed to think it did sound like something bad, and he wondered WHO could have placed such a thing on my phone. I tried to tell him it came from the factory like that and I haven't touched the phone since I got it a couple days ago. But from doing a google search and looking at message boards, it does look like verizon does this on purpose. Since I complained, he said I could return this one and get a replacement free. When the replacement arrives, I'm checking that one too.
It is not ok for that to be on your phone. If it is, you should complain too.
Update: the replacement phone came in. Right out of the box, it had "keytracer" and other apps with similar permissions installed on it. I called Verizon and complained that since this was twice in a row, it was no accident. They looked into it, apologized for something like that being on my phone, and suggested I call Samsung, since they must have placed it there since the phone was sent right from the factory. Samsung played the blame game, and said it wasn't there fault, google wanted it on their phones, so all new phones beginning around Oct. 2011 would have it on there. Asked why google truly needed to do things on my phone like intercept my phone calls and texts, keep my phone secretly on when I turned it off, take its own pictures, record key strokes which could get all my passwords, etc. I got no good explanation for that; just a lot of nervous mumbo jumbo that I'm not buying. I wasn't born yesterday, and I don't believe everything that everyone tells me, because I can think for myself - thank you very much. This phone is being sent back. No one is going to force my into using those apps, and get me to believe that they are normal or acceptable. If I knew how, alternatively I also would have liked to just disable those apps, but I'm not there yet and I don't know how to do that.
This is crazy! the list of things this program can do. it's pretty much saying. yea google can spy on you, intercept your calls, call people on your lists, view your calendar information, send people messages, use your authentication credentials on your account, edit your calendar and contact information, and that it can cause you charges on your bill. thats ok? something is seriously wrong here. I'm calling tomorrow and asking some questions and complaining. I suggest that everyone here does. In fact im going to make everyone I know aware of this and other corrupt programs. I feel like my rights are being violated. this should be and probably is illegal but somehow they've gotten around it.
Here is a list of things keytracer does:
add/modify calendar events and send email to guests, read calendar events, read contact data, read user defined dictionary, write contact data, directly call phone numbers, send sms messages, find your location and gps location, edit sms or mms, modify gmail, read sms or mms, receive wap, control near field communication, create bluetooth connections, full internet access, USE THE AUTHENTICATION CREDENTIALS OF AN ACCOUNT, modify/delete sd card contents, read phone state and identity, change your audio settings, take pictures and videos, bluetooth administration, change dial up network state, change wi-fi state, change wimax state, change UI settings, disable keylock, format external memory, modify global system settings, mount and unmount filesystems, prevent phone from sleeping, retrieve running applications, write access point name settings, write sync settings.
found an awesome post answering some of these questions. pretty scary. I'm certainly going to complain and push my legal rights on this issue. this is NOT legal and it wont change unless people step up and complain and try to do something about it.
READ THIS!
Your Android Phone Is Secretly Recording Everything You Do (Updated)
Don't forget that it follows you into the bathroom. It tells your boss everything that you say, too.
I cant stand when people say things like that to make light of a situation.I found out my boss was doing this with my account and they did check my info all of it from phone. Its a horrible feeling and invasion of privacy. Thank you Susan for the info. We have no rights to privacy anymore and people don't seem to care but I do.