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Amazon has reversed its decision to remove encryption from its Fire OS operating system following criticism.
At a time when fellow tech giant Apple is engaged in a high-profile battle with the US government over encryption and privacy, Amazon quietly removed encryption support on its Fire tablets, something that was picked up online.
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
Now the e-commerce and hardware giant has done something of a U-turn, confirming encryption will be restored to Fire OS in an update due this spring.
The public outcry is likely to have been behind the re-think, with Fire tablet users flooding forums with complaints.
Several complainers pointed out that removing the data protection feature meant they could no longer use their device for business email as it was required by their employer.
Amazon’s cause was probably not helped by the level of publicity currently surrounding data encryption amid Apple’s ongoing battle with the FBI over creating a back-door to encrypted content.
Amazon has backed Apple’s defence in a court filing, and has continued to encrypt data sent between devices and its data centres.
