I'd argue that there are levels of security and encryption, mostly around what data is secret. If I make an encrypted phone call to you, there are a few "level

I'd argue that there are levels of security and encryption, mostly around what data is secret. If I make an encrypted phone call to you, there are a few "levels" of information. There's the exact information exchanged on the call, the amount of information exchanged but not it's value, the identities of those in the call, the date and time and duration of the call, perhaps the hardware used to make the call, etc... Encryption isn't an all or nothing thing, it often involves tradeoffs and giving up some security for convenience or the other way around. And in some areas there are laws about what must be kept secret and what must be visible to the government (like in anti-money laundering laws).