Research In Motion does not install nor authorize its carrier partners to install Carrier IQ monitoring software on its BlackBerry smartphones, the company said on Thursday.

RIM made the statement after a security researcher said the Carrier IQ application, which can monitor what device users are doing, has been installed on mobile devices from multiple vendors without the knowledge or consent of customers.

Trevor Eckhart, the researcher who demonstrated in online videos how the software works, focused on devices using Google's Android operating system, but he also mentioned other operating systems, including RIM's BlackBerry and the Nokia system as having the software installed.

RIM does not pre-install the Carrier IQ app on BlackBerry smartphones or authorize its carrier partners to install the Carrier IQ app before sales or distribution, RIM said.

RIM also did not develop or commission the development of the Carrier IQ application, and has no involvement in the testing, promotion, or distribution of the app.

In a statement posted to its website last month, Carrier IQ said its software is used by network operators to help improve network quality and troubleshoot device problems.

While we look at many aspects of a device's performance, we are counting and summarizing performance, not recording keystrokes, or providing tracking tools, the Mountain View, California-based company said.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; editing by Peter Galloway)

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