Most people - 90%+ didn't have access to a free internet until early 2000's (for practical purposes), encryption was hardly ever used by private citizens until

Most people - 90%+ didn't have access to a free internet until early 2000's (for practical purposes), encryption was hardly ever used by private citizens until GSM came in in the 80's, and then it was totally back doored - by law and standard. Did we live in a dictatorship? Democracy and a free society seemed to exist then, and before. Perhaps they were healthier in the 1990's than in the last few years?