It's worth noting here that Amazon did actually file an amicus brief supporting Apple in its fight against the FBI. The company has also been very bullish in saying that its Amazon Echo products -- which are always listening for certain keywords -- have strong encryption. So it's unusual to see the company essentially backtrack on its encryption efforts with the latest Fire OS update, especially as the rest of the tech industry rallies around Apple. We've reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this post if we hear more.

Update: Amazon has responded with the following statement: