Why Is the Internet Important?

The Internet is the first means of communication that can literally connect all of humanity in microseconds. Today there are approximately 2 billion daily internet users. That's one out of three people on this planet.  That's why internet Freedom is such a large issue today. Countries like China, Burma, Iran, and North Korea block their users from parts of the internet and in some cases the entire internet. By doing this they force their people to be in exclusion from the rest of the world. The reason the governments do this is they fear that ideas such as democarcy will come to their people's mind and they'll start to revolt such as the entire Arab uprising.

Here's an up to date chart on the current status of the internet

Iran	After the protests of 2010 the Iranian government restricted access to the majority of the internet which is run through a filtering software.
China	China filters their internet through software which is frequently called "The Great Firewall of China". Ironically the guy who put this together thought he was doing a favor to the people of China. Ironically many news articles written about him have been blocked by this firewall.
North Korea	Only about 4% of the population (aka the ruling elite) have access, and even their access is only to NK run sites.
France	France is a country which promotes freedom of the press. However their newely passed "Three strikes law" is very controversial.
Saudi Arabia	Saudi info