Not really, there are already “quantum proof” encryption algorithms that systems are already moving to.
It won’t be an apocalypse where all your personal data is suddenly available at the click of a button. You need to be a billionaire launching a new social network to get that level of privacy invasion.
This breaks rule #1 as there is no question.
Meh. Various encryption has broken in the past and not made much difference publicly.
The only ones sitting on troves of ciphertext are government agencies who aren’t exactly going to disclose what they break when they do.
And for future applications, we’re already gradually moving over to quantum protected encryption standards.
At best, you’ll see a few pedophiles end up in jail in progressive nations and activists in jail in regressive ones, and a lot of bets being settled among people in three letter agencies about who was right about what was really going on at the time years ago, with perhaps a bit of new blackmail material for some folks still in positions of power.
It’s going to be way more anticlimactic than what even pre-quantum computing advances coming down the pipe are going to lead to in areas like ML.
TL;DR: With what’s coming along in the next few years, you’ll almost entirely forget about the more limited broken encryption effects that are going to largely remain secret anyways.
What an interesting story!
For future readers, keep in mind that that is a work of fiction
Soon whatever options we had for a little bit of privacy will be gone unless stronger encryption measures aren’t quickly created. And it’s not that simple either. Security is hard
