After Backlash, Amazon Promises To Bring Back Encryption On Fire OS

from the of-course dept

Just to close the loop on this one: just after the firestorm last week when Amazon was called out for removing device encryption from Fire OS 5 (at the very same time as its CTO was saying encryption is "mandatory" and the company signed on to a brief supporting Apple in the encryption fight, the company has admitted that it will restore encryption to Fire OS 5 "sometime in the spring."

The company had insisted that no one was really using it -- and some suggested that there may have been performance issues when encryption was turned on. But, even if that's the case, it still makes little sense to have yanked the feature entirely. For the small number of people who were using it, it was clearly an important feature. And, given all of this, it's no surprise Amazon is bringing it back. It still doesn't quite explain why they removed it in the first place, but it's good to see that this got settled in the proper way in the end.

Filed Under: backlash, encryption, fire os
Companies: amazon

Amazon Removes Encryption Support, Just As Its CTO Says 'Encryption Is Mandatory'

from the uh,-what? dept

So this is disappointing. While Amazon has come out in support of Apple's fight against the DOJ on backdoors, and its CTO, Werner Vogels just gave an impassioned speech in favor of encryption, the company itself... has removed encryption from its Fire OS 5. This is getting a lot of attention today in response to this tweet from cybersecurity guy David Scovetta:

While Apple fights the good fight, @Amazon removes encryption as option from FireOS 5 | @csoghoian @normative @eff pic.twitter.com/nggBdtFG7j

— David Scovetta (@davidscovetta) March 3, 2016

If you can't see that, it is a screenshot noting that Amazon has ended encryption support for the Fire tablet:

Encryption Support on Fire Tablet

Encryption support will soon be deprecated on Fire HD (4th Generation) and Fire HDX 8.9 (4th Generation). Here's what to do to ensure your data and other information are saved.

Your device has encrypted data. However, device encryption is no longer supported in Fire OS 5. Follow the steps outlined below to save your data.

It turns out this information actually started leaking out last week, with complaints popping up on Reddit and Hacker News and various Amazon forums.

This is ridiculous. So far, Amazon has not been willing to comment, but it's hard to square this decision with what its CTO Vogels was saying just as Amazon made this move:

We have a very strong opinion on this. We believe that you cannot have a connected business, or an Internet-connected business and not make security and protection of your customers your number one priority.

Encryption plays a very, very important role in that. To be honest, it is one of the few really strong tools we have so customers know that only they have access to their data and nobody else.

In our cloud division we put encryption into all of our services where customers can manage their own keys. I think that encrypting your data … of your customers is mandatory. It is not only mandatory from a business point or in the cloud, but also on premise. You should be encrypting your data. Without backdoors you can be sure that you are the only one who has access to your data.

I and many others agree. Which raises serious questions why the company where Vogels is CTO seems to now be doing the exact opposite.

Filed Under: encryption, fire os, fire phones, fire tablet, security, werner vogels
Companies: amazon, apple