All hell is about to break loose.
The computer revolution that has come before is nothing compared to the cataclysmic tidal wave of change that we are about to visit on human society as phones, fiber, and computers converge. In the next ten years, the world will become wired. Governments are struggling valiantly to contain and control the beast, but it is far too late. Such muddle-headed ideas as the clipper chip are meaningless. Sure, the government can force its citizens to spend millions on encryption chips that the government alone can break into, but the bad guys will only pre-encrypt the information themselves so that when the government does break in, they will find nothing but gibberish.