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from the it-was-an-error,-not-exageration,-honest! dept.
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
For the past several months, the FBI has been claiming that encryption has prevented the agency from accessing around 7,000 mobile devices connected to various crimes.
On Tuesday, the FBI told PCMag that a programming error resulted in a "significant overcounting" of the encrypted devices. "The FBI is currently conducting an in-depth review of how this over-counting previously occurred," the agency said in a statement.
The news was first reported by The Washington Post, which said the correct number is probably between 1,000 and 2,000 devices. One internal estimate from the FBI puts the figure at 1,200, but the agency plans to launch an audit to get the full number, The Post said, citing unnamed sources.
The mistake seriously undercuts one of the FBI's central arguments in the ongoing encryption debate. For years now, the agency has been pushing for what critics call a "backdoor" into smartphone products that'll let federal agents easily unlock mobile devices tied to crimes. Without such access, some investigations may grind to halt, the agency claims.
[...] How did the FBI make the mistake? According to the agency, starting in April 2016, it began using a new "collection methodology" with how it counted the encrypted devices. But only recently did the FBI become aware of flaws in the methodology, it said, without elaborating.
Source: https://www.pcmag.com/news/361357/oops-fbi-inflated-the-number-of-encrypted-devices-it-cant
Also at CNET and TechCrunch
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 24 2018, @05:25AM (1 child)
I brought Jury Nullification up once in court... never been called to Jury Service since.
It is my belief this is why the Court summons several people for each juror needed.... so they can make sure that only the ones they "like" are put into this position.
It would be akin to letting me pick from some people, say on here, to sit in on a trial where someone got their paycheck pinched by legal tricks, and they don't want jurors who know about the law upsetting the whole apple cart the businessmen spent years and thousands of dollars asskissing Congressmen for.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday May 24 2018, @04:13PM
Last year when I got called there were I think 45-50 of us initially. They got all the way down to #32 for the last of the 12.
Unrelatedly, god damn were those the most uncomfortable benches ever to sit in for an entire day. Wooden seat and the back was really weird so you couldn't put your lower back against it properly without being bent forward at a 45-degree angle.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"