How is this legal? Wray just lied to Congress. Sure, the FBI has an excuse that they simply overcounted, but when you make no effort to correct your previously erroneous count, and it clearly is in your advantage to keep citing the old figure, I don't think you can claim that you made a statement that was, to the best of your ability, true.
EDIT: AAaand... they changed the photo! What I say below is still <i>slightly</i> true of the current photo, but you should've seen the original one. Here's a copy somebody cached of it:<p><a href="http://wat-if.com/fbi-repeatedly-overstated-encryption-threat-figures-to-congress-public/" rel="nofollow">http://wat-if.com/fbi-repeatedly-overstated-encryption-threa...</a><p>------<p>Check out the contrasting body language in the photo. Wray looking smug, practically <i>sauntering</i> (reminds me of this: <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/strutting-leo" rel="nofollow">http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/strutting-leo</a>), not a care in the world. On the left is someone from the Capitol Police, much lower-ranked, who actually worries about and protects things for a living and probably doesn't get as much sleep as he should.<p>The first guy could stand to be a little more like the second, since at least in theory he's the "top law enforcement officer in the land" and a supposed protector of law and order. In reality he's presumably an expert at playing politics, doing favors, and stretching the truth to get an advantage, such as... hey, this article. Not to mention that spying on people, I suspect, has a lot less to do with guy-on-the-left/protecting-people concerns than it does with guy-on-the-right/political-jockeying concerns.
I'm always bothered by the sense of entitlement. A warrant just says they're allowed to infringe someone's 4A rights in order to look for and seize evidence. It's not a <i>promise</i> that they'll find and be able to use whatever it is they're looking for.<p>And I don't think the FBI has ever stated that they dropped or lost a case due to crypto.
I'm having a hard time speculating about what phones are "encrypted cellphones" by this count. Are they counting iOS devices with a strong passcode or is there some other functionality they're specifically "having trouble" with? I find it hard to believe they're talking about Phantom and specific-application "cryptophones."