Amazon Quietly Removes Encryption Support from its devices in Fire OS 5

by
in security on (#16AP6)
Amazon has deprecated full disk encryption in Fire OS 5:
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in their Fire devices are left with two bad choices: either decline to install the update, leaving their devices with outdated software, or give up and keep their data unencrypted.
Reply 6 comments

Why? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-08 00:32 (#16B0Q)

Just... why...

Re: Why? (Score: 3, Informative)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-08 01:59 (#16B5W)

Don't fret, in news that renders this story outdated, amazon have returned encryption in Fire OS.

Re: Why? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-08 12:58 (#16CMY)

Let's all sing "They were asshats after all" to the tune of "It's a small world". Ready? 1,2,3,4

Re: Why? (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-09 00:48 (#16EZW)

It is quite concerning just how readily businesses are willing to comply with Big Brother.

Re: Why? (Score: 3, Insightful)

by fnj@pipedot.org on 2016-03-10 11:21 (#16MC3)

It is quite concerning just how readily businesses are willing to comply with Big Brother.
Most definitely, but not just businesses - people in general. Not just comply, but demand to be oppressed.

Re: Why? (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-03-10 21:18 (#16PDJ)

Try asking them a whole lot of intrusive questions, and they start to get a bit squeamish on giving you the details, though. Apparently a faceless government minion is trustworthy, yet someone they trust as a friend is not.