Amazon has confirmed it has removed data encryption for Fire OS 5 for the company's Fire tablet. It revealed that the tablet computers' communication with Amazon's cloud meets the company's high standards for privacy and security. This means Amazon is encrypting data transfers from Fire tablets to external servers but is not protecting data stored locally.   

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Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) member David Scovetta reported the end of Fire OS 5 device encryption. Scovetta tweeted a screenshot captured from the Fire tablet user guide, according to Tech Crunch.

In other mobile encryption news Apple is battling the FBI in a legal battle in which the federal bureau requested the tech giant to unlock an iPhone 5c by creating software to weaken iOS security. However, Apple has argued that tweaking the OS will cause a security risk for all iOS users. 

Several tech giants including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon have submitted briefs to support Apple. The Steve Jobs co-founded company wants a formal debate in Congress about whether tech companies should be required to hack their own encryption systems when requested by law enforcement or security agencies.

An irony is that Amazon has taken the action of removing the encryption itself. In that situation such groups do not require a backdoor bypass to access local data on the mobile device. 

Amazon is claiming Fire tablet users were not using the encryption features, which made it unnecessary. It is unclear what the company's goal is. It could be to boost the performance of low-power cheap tablets with a price tag as low as $50, but also shows the big security risks of buying budget devices. 

Several devices will be affected by the Fire OS 5 update that does not include local encryption including Kindle Fire, Fire Phone, Amazon Fire HD, and Amazon Fire TV sticks, according to Computerworld.  

Many security experts criticized Amazon for its move. However, some did not view the move as a bad one. Thomas Palmer pointed out that Android encryption is easy to hack, has major flaws, and fails to protect all data.

Palmer argued that the general public does not want to learn the facts about mobile encryption but  instead it automatically gives a "no-vote" rather than learning facts about the security.  

Here's a hands-on for Amazon's HD tablet: