Amazon Quietly Disabled Encryption On Its hearth OS 5 devices

It’s come to gentle that Amazon quietly disabled encryption on all of its fireplace OS devices with its newest major device replace. The revelation comes at a time when Apple is in an unheard of criminal combat with the FBI and a heated debate over the very significance of encryption technology in every person’s lifestyles. The disabling of fire OS’s encryption came about with the update to the corporate’s hearth OS 5 instrument that runs on the Kindle fireplace, fire cellphone, Amazon fire HD, and Amazon fire tv Stick, stories The Verge.

What’s most striking in regards to the disabling of fireplace OS’s encryption is that Amazon didn’t publicly supply users a heads-up, regardless of hearth OS 5 transport to users last fall. The news was first said publicly past this yr when posts began doping up on Amazon’s purchaser discussion boards with the aid of eagle-eyed fire OS customers. quickly after, cybersecurity enthusiast David Scovetta posted a screenshot of the one place Amazon mentioned its disabling of fire OS’s encryption: within the OS’s person guide.

Amazon hasn’t commented on the removing of fireplace OS encryption past releasing a easy remark saying its elimination was once due to the truth that some consumers weren’t using it: “within the fall once we launched fire OS 5, we removed some undertaking options that we found shoppers weren’t using,” an Amazon spokesperson mentioned. “All fireplace drugs’ verbal exchange with Amazon’s cloud meet our high requirements for privacy and security together with applicable use of encryption.”

Amazon’s shock move has been blasted by means of the know-how press, privateness advocates, and cybersecurity specialists.

“doing away with device encryption due to lack of shopper use is an exceptionally bad excuse for weakening the protection of these buyers that did use the feature,” Jeremy Gillula, body of workers technologist with the electronic Frontier basis, advised trade Insider. “provided that the ideas stored on a tablet can be simply as sensitive as that saved on a phone or on a pc, Amazon should as an alternative be pushing to make tool encryption the default—no longer taking away it.”

Nathan White, senior legislative supervisor at digital rights organization get right of entry to Now, told Wired, “Amazon’s decision is backward—it not most effective strikes away from default software encryption, where different producers are headed, but gets rid of all option by way of the top consumer to decide to encrypt it after purchase.”

As the Guardian notes, the move is especially baffling making an allowance for Amazon is likely one of the myriad tech companies supporting Apple in its struggle towards the FBI, with Amazon chief technology officer Werner Vogels brazenly talking about the importance of encryption at the cellular World Congress just a few weeks ago.

“We consider that you can’t have a related trade, or an internet-linked trade and no longer make security and protection of your buyers your primary priority,” Vogels stated. “Encryption plays an extraordinarily, very important function in that … it is likely one of the few really strong instruments we now have so shoppers understand that handiest they have get right of entry to to their data and no person else.”

as the Guardian notes, Vogels’ feedback got here months after Amazon in reality removed encryption. “the company has, successfully, created a public facade that supports encryption while it eliminates safety features from its products,” the newspaper stated.

“It no doubt looks as if there may be slightly somewhat of hypocrisy there,” observed the EFF’s Gillula.