Following a series of complaints from irate customers, Amazon has chosen to bring back the encryption on its Fire devices. Consumers have criticized the company for the lack of security for the products it is selling in its website.
The complaints increased when customers realized that Amazon disabled its Fire Devices' encryption feature without any warning to its users. In response to the growing criticisms, the company has opted to reinstate the security feature and said it will be available with the soon-to-be released software update this spring.
Without any announcement, Amazon took out a Fire tablet security option when it updated its latest version of the company's Android-based operating system. Some say the online seller resorted to this move to reduce its operating and maintenance costs but it compromised the security of its devices to a considerable degree.
The online marketing company admitted that it made such a move just a few days ago. It even justified the removal of the security feature by saying that only a few people really use it.
But security experts and device owners quickly reacted and the company received numerous complaints against its unilateral move. They believed that Amazon was unjust in removing a vital feature.
The company's move became suspicious in the context of the ongoing battle between Apple Inc. and the FBI regarding the security of private devices. Interestingly enough, Amazon is among the tech heavyweights that requested the federal court to make a favorable decision towards Apple and not the FBI.
Bruce Scheiner, a noted cryptologist was among those who criticized Amazon's move to take out its security features of the Fire devices. He did not mince his words and said the company's action is "stupid" since it scrambles data and prevents anybody from accessing the device unless they type in the right password.
