1) current encryption not available in the 1990's. These are the age of DES and weapon-grade vs commercial encryption. There was a legal cost blocking strong encryption.
2) Manufacturers were not as strongly opposed to people touching the internals. After WW2, most people could fix anything, because survival depended on it. Even in the 60's radios etc. came with schematics, and building your own was normal and cost-effective. The shift happened in the '90s, with governements requiring licensing for everything, and mass manufacturing making repair less cost effective than buying a new one.
Our current culture where only people blessed by the manufacturer are allowed to do anything is very recent.
[trying-to-generate-random-making-sense-content]
Let me gasps ask: The older six-fingers-"AI"-characters had learned an music-instrument by now, ander are much more capable of playing music you otherwise haddn't known or thought about..."?
um What about those early shadowy boygroup, whom seem asian, no ? (-;
[after-losing-entry-address-of-topic-question]
But back to your trustworth-written text, Yes!
regards,