The online retail giant Amazon has suspended Blu products from selling their products on the site. The company used security concerns as a reason for their decision and said that until the budget Android phone manufacturer resolves the issue, the decision will stand, as CNET reported. Just a week prior, Blu’s devices were found to be sending user data to China. Security firm Kryptowire was the one to reveal the information.
This seller based in Miami has had prior problems with privacy. Back in November of last year, the company had admitted of a third-party app collecting info including text messages, call logs, and contacts on a limited number of devices. At the time of that happening, the firm had also admitted to the Adups software having affected 120,000. Blu told Engadget about this software used for OTA updates. Another thing they told them was that they were replacing the Chinese tool with OTA and servers of Google in their future products.
The company denies the latest allegations, saying that while the older phones do still have the Adups app, there is no found malware, spyware of secret software in the said phones. The data that is being collected is standard for the OTA functionality, Blu claims, and it doesn’t affect anyone’s privacy or security.
Blu sent an email to Engadget, containing a statement saying that since November of the last year, Amazon has been aware of the Adups and similar application on their devices, and Blu, Amazon as well as Kryptowire were assured that it didn’t add any risk to security and privacy any longer.
They continued by writing that the devices had the exact same behavior as before, without any new behaviors or change in any devices that would potentially cause concern. The firm stated that they expected Amazon to understand this, and put their devices back to sale on the website.
Amazon has been reached out for a comment, but still haven’t got an answer back.
Even though Blu’s handsets were a part of Amazon’s Prime Exclusive Phones program, they are no longer available on there. The manufacturer’s phones have also been a backbone on the site’s unlocked cell phones best sellers chart.
