Ross Gittins has this very insigthful report on the economic and social benefits of the internet in todays SMH:

LIKE many major new technologies before it, the internet is steadily remaking a host of our industries – music, film, travel, banking, newspapers, book-selling, and now retailing more generally. You've heard a lot about the pain this is inflicting on businesses and their staff, and you'll be hearing a lot more.

But while we're being asked to feel bad about all the business people and workers displaced, there are two things we shouldn't lose sight of. New technology is ALWAYS reshaping our economy; it's the price we pay for 200 years of ever-rising affluence. And the costs to the producers of the old technology are always outweighed by the benefits to the users of the new technology.

Today Google Australia is releasing a study by Deloitte Access Economics that attempts to measure those benefits. It finds that about 190,000 people are employed in occupations that are directly related to the internet, with its direct contribution to the Australian economy worth about $50 billion a year, or 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product.

Read the full article here