[amreact]

Just brainstorming here. Here are a few ways in which you can get in trouble with the law because of unencrypted online communications (these are ordered from most likely to occur within 1 human lifetime to least likely to occur within 1 human lifetime, IMO):

1. You could travel to another country where they arrest you for something unencrypted you did online in a country where it was legal. This has already happened. [1]

2. Your communications could become evidence in court that you "always had radical leanings." So while you're not convicted for what you did online, it still becomes evidence against you. I suspect this has already happened.

3. You could travel to another country where retroactive laws are allowed, and get caught because of something you said in the past in the US.

4. The US could eventually allow retroactive laws, and catch you for something you did before retroactive laws were allowed.

Note: these are just ways you could get in trouble with the law; not mentioned are things like your reputation being destroyed, death threats, identity theft, or malware due to lack of encryption. I also have not mentioned ways in which your friends could get in trouble because of something unencrypted you did online.

[1] http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/05/middleeast/american-arrested-i...