In a nutshell I dont think we would have seen much change - corporations only engage in security insofar as much as they are required to - we've seen that even in this "metastatic SSL enabled growth" we've basically sold out security to the lowest common denominator, and core actors in the industry just use these security features as a fig leaf to pretend they give a single crap.
Now, would CERTAIN industries exist without strong cryptography? Maybe not, but commerce doesn't really care about privacy in most cases, it cares about money changing hands.
I dont know, they sure make sure the paper-trail is shredded and shedded with the Azure Document Abo 365. When it comes to security from liability everything is top notch.
Right: So what we need to do is make organizations liable for mishandling data.
Imagine if you could sue a company for disclosing your unique email address to spammers and scammers. (They claim it's the fault of their unscrupulous business partner? Then they can sue for damages in turn, not my problem.)
There are some practical issues to overcome with that vision... but I find it rather cathartic.
Cryptocurrency, if you accept it and its ecosystem as an industry, would certainly not exist. And as for privacy, a fairy dies every time some someone praises bitcoin for being anonymous.
"A decent number" instead of "every" kind of supports my point, though. I'm not saying you get anonymity for free, but by taking the right steps and being very careful, it's actually pretty straightforward.
Now, would CERTAIN industries exist without strong cryptography? Maybe not, but commerce doesn't really care about privacy in most cases, it cares about money changing hands.