This was the Internet’s worst, best year ever

[Commentary] 2014 was in many ways a mixed bag for the Internet. It showed the Internet at its strongest, reaching more people, more ways than at any point in the past. But at the same time, it has also never been more threatened by everything from hackers to censors to autocrats newly attuned to the power of the online world.

Some key pieces of information: 32 of 65 countries surveyed in 2014 had declines in their Internet freedom. Even democracies abused the Internet, revealing a global "schizophrenic attitude" towards surveillance according to a report from the group Reporters Without Borders. However, the number of regular Internet users grew by about 250 million people in just the last 12 months. Overall, the fact that people seemed to have never been more passionate about the fate of the Internet is, perhaps, the one main lesson from this past year in the Internet's life.

[Dec 31]