Keefe Bartels LLC, from Red Bank is among the three firms behind a new class action suit against mobile phone manufacturers and service providers alleging that they breached privacy of mere than 150 million cell phone users through data software.

The suit claims that cell phone providers T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T, and manufacturers HTC, Motorola, Apple, and Samsung have violated the Federal Wiretap Act, Stored Electronic Communications Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by using the software from Carrier IQ.

The suit also alleges that Carrier IQ is a rootkit and keylogger that tacks personal and sensitive information.

Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher from Connecticut had identified the software secretly installed on Android, Nokia or BlackBerry phones, which records keystrokes of the users and also sends information to their carriers.

The Carrier IQ tracks the user experience, records it, and sends it to the service providers so that they can use it in any manner their like. Eckhart identified the software and analyzed it to find out its functions. He was surprised to find that it secretly transmits user information to the carriers.

The maker of the software has said that the software is not designed for secretly reporting for user information to the carriers. The company, Carrier IQ even threatened Eckhart of Connecticut with legal action but moved back at the intervention of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Carrier IQ has now apologized to the researcher.