According to the US government, "the strength and vitality of
our economy, infrastructure, public safety and national security
have been built on the foundation of cyberspace." The McKinsey
Global Institute recently published a study that aimed to
quantify the impact of the internet on the world economy. It
found that the internet has become a significant and essential
factor in national economies and in the global economy itself,
allowing established industries to be more productive and
creating new jobs. Among advanced economies, it found that the
internet accounts for around 6% of GDP and is a critical element
in economic growth, accounting for 21% of GDP growth in those
advanced countries over the past five years. The internet is
also growing rapidly, both in terms of numbers of people
connecting to it, including high levels of growth in emerging
economies, and in terms of the numbers and types of devices
connecting to it. According to Cisco, there were about five
billion devices connected to the internet