There is obviously a place for cryptography in both personal and commercial communications. I'm always curious when one hears a politician moaning on about the 'dangers' of cryptography, if they understand how intricately intertwined cryptography is with the modern economy. And the fact that something is either cryptographically secure, or it isn't. There is no middle ground. If you intentionally break a cryptography system then you're going to disrupt trillions of dollars of commerce.

But crypto is of course not a magic pill. There are political issues that need to be addressed as well. This was a theme touched on in Bruce Sterling's SXSW keynote this year.