Amazon Quietly Removes Encryption Support from its Gadgets

[LiberalArkie]

While Apple is fighting the FBI in court over encryption, Amazon quietly disabled the option to use encryption to protect data on its Android-powered devices.

The tech giant has recently deprecated support for device encryption on the latest version of Fire OS, Amazon’s custom Android operating system, which powers its tablets and phones. In the past, privacy-minded users could protect data stored inside their devices, such as their emails, by scrambling it with a password, which made it unreadable in case the device got lost or stolen. With this change, users who had encryption on in their Fire devices are left with two bad choices: either decline to install the update, leaving their devices with outdated software, or give up and keep their data unencrypted.

For privacy and encryption advocates, this move goes against the recent trend to make encryption available by default, and puts Amazon customers’ data at risk, given that they won’t be able to protect the information in their tablets and phones with encryption.

“This is a terrible move as it compromises the safety of Kindle Fire owners by making their data vulnerable to all manner of bad actors, including crackers and repressive governments,” Aral Balkan, a coder, human rights activist, and owner of a Kindle Fire, told Motherboard. “It’s clear with this move that Amazon does not respect the safety of its customers.”

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http://motherboard.vice.com/read/amazon-removes-device-encryption-fire-os-kindle-phones-and-tablets

[spinbaby]

1. I didn't know my Kindle had encryption

[Eugene]

2. Amazon Reverses Course, Encryption Returning for Fire Devices

Source: Bloomberg

Amazon Reverses Course, Encryption Returning for Fire Devices

by Spencer Soper

March 5, 2016 — 11:18 AM EST

Amazon.com Inc. will restore encryption as a security option on its tablets and other devices that use the Fire operating system, following a customer backlash driven by increased sensitivity about data protection as Apple Inc. grapples with the FBI over access to a terrorist’s iPhone.

Amazon removed encryption from the devices in late 2015, possibly to reduce costs for its tablets and electronic readers. The devices aren’t intended for communication of sensitive data, although they can be used to access the Internet and e-mail. Some customers complained about the change after they updated their Fire software on older devices and saw encryption was no longer offered.

Amazon reversed course late Friday night, saying in an e-mail that it would restore encryption as an option on Fire devices with a software update “this spring,“ without being more specific.

The dispute between the FBI and Apple over access to a San Bernardino killer’s locked smartphone has sparked a debate about balancing personal privacy and public safety. Most major technology companies, including Amazon, have sided with Apple.

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Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-05/amazon-reverses-course-encryption-returning-for-fire-devices