It seems to me that with the incessant push from governments over access to encrypted messages that we'll eventually end up with a similar but updated situation

It seems to me that with the incessant push from governments over access to encrypted messages that we'll eventually end up with a similar but updated situation that we had with the old POTS telephone system. POTS was unencrypted but was difficult for the average person to tap into, and even governments/police had a little difficulty tapping in—they'd have to set up line taps on suspected persons' phones, and or follow calls through telephone exchange Strowger switches before a suspect hung up (the switches dropped out). Essentially, people in the POTS era had the expectation that their calls were mainly private but they knew that government could gain access under certain circumstances. Also, criminals were aware of this, either they wouldn't use the phone network or they'd use public telephones and keep calls sufficiently short to the point where police didn't have time to trace them. The POTS system never had absolute privacy and it seems to me that unless there's some major upheaval or reversal of policy—which seems very unlikely —that the best we can expect to end up with is a digital equivalent or similar. It sort of stinks but that seems the likely reality.