Amazon removes encryption from devices in Fire OS 5

[BC Guy]

http://www.dailydot.com/politics/amazon-encryption-kindle-fire-operating-system/

Mar 3, 2016, 10:37am CT | Last updated Mar 3, 2016, 10:38am C


While Apple continues to resist a court order requiring it to help the FBI access a terrorist's phone, another major tech company just took a strange and unexpected step away from encryption.
Amazon has removed device encryption from the operating system that powers its Kindle e-reader, Fire Phone, Fire Tablet, and Fire TV devices.
The change, which took effect in Fire OS 5, affects millions of users.

David Scovetta/Twitter
Device encryption, which ties data access to a password known only to the device's rightful owner, prevents thieves from reading personal information on tablets, phones, and other products that they steal. Older Amazon devices supported relatively easy-to-apply encryption.
Amazon's decision prompted a wave of customer complaints on support forums, blogs, and social media.
In the wake of revelations about U.S. mass-surveillance programs and government hacking activities, Apple and Google added device encryption to iOS and Android in 2014, although Google left it off by default. Apple's gradual ratcheting up of security features on its mobile devices sparked the current fight over law-enforcement access to those devices.
Amazon is among several tech companies filing or joining amicus briefs in the Apple case.
The company did not respond to a request for comment about its Fire OS encryption change.

 

[BC Guy]

Update.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/03/amazon-will-restore-fire-os-encryption-support-in-the-spring/

Amazon will restore optional full disk encryption to Fire OS 5 in a software update "coming this spring," according to a statement released by the company on Friday evening.
The company originally removed disk encryption support in FireOS 5, which was introduced on Fire tablets last fall. It only made headlines yesterday after that update started to roll out for older devices—those tablets shipped with encryption support which was removed by the update, and users complained. The topic of device encryption is also on everyone's mind thanks to Apple's high-profile fight with the FBI over a locked iPhone 5C.

Amazon originally said that it removed encryption support from the Android-based Fire OS because it was an "enterprise feature" that "consumers weren't using." The complaints and news reports were apparently enough to get the company to reverse course.