Hmm, doubt it's for security. Seems more likely they're looking for backdoors in order to spy on users. There are far too many governments desperate to backdoor encryption and messaging apps to trust any government's stated intent when it comes to technology
Arthur C Clarke is an excellent author and the Rama series is one of my all-time favourites. I'd recommend anything by Philip K Dick, though honestly I think a good reference would be to pick works listed in the SF Masterworks collection, it's how I found many of my favourite SF novels.
If you fancy venturing into modern SF classics, my favourites are by Peter F Hamilton, Iain M Banks and William Gibson; though does Gibson count? He doesn't even have a middle initial 😄
Taking bets on how far he gets before going off on a tangent about Sleepy Joe or one of his other greatest hits?