Editing Clipper chip (section)

== Lack of adoption ==
The Clipper chip was not embraced by consumers or manufacturers and the chip itself was no longer relevant by 1996; the only significant purchaser of phones with the chip was the United States Department of Justice.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/from-clipper-chip-to-smartphones-unlocking-the-encryption-debate/ |title=From Clipper Chip to Smartphones: Unlocking the Encryption Debate |access-date=2019-11-10 |archive-date=2020-05-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529232921/https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/from-clipper-chip-to-smartphones-unlocking-the-encryption-debate/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. government continued to press for [[key escrow]] by offering incentives to manufacturers, allowing more relaxed export controls if key escrow were part of cryptographic software that was exported. These attempts were largely made moot by the widespread use of strong cryptographic technologies, such as [[Pretty Good Privacy|PGP]], which were not under the control of the U.S. government.

{{As of|2013}}, strongly encrypted voice channels are still not the predominant mode for current cell phone communications.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/by-cracking-cellphone-code-nsa-has-capacity-for-decoding-private-conversations/2013/12/13/e119b598-612f-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |title=By cracking cellphone code, NSA has ability to decode private conversations |date=December 13, 2013 |first1=Craig |last1=Timberg |first2=Ashkan |last2=Soltani |author-link2=Ashkan Soltani |access-date=August 18, 2015 |quote=More than 80 percent of cellphones worldwide use weak or no encryption for at least some of their calls. |archive-date=May 7, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507030950/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/by-cracking-cellphone-code-nsa-has-capacity-for-decoding-private-conversations/2013/12/13/e119b598-612f-11e3-bf45-61f69f54fc5f_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=July 2023}} Secure cell phone devices and [[smartphone]] apps exist, but may require specialized hardware, and typically require that both ends of the connection employ the same encryption mechanism. Such apps usually communicate over secure Internet pathways (e.g. [[ZRTP]]) instead of through phone voice data networks.