Welcome to Gaia! ::

It's not perfect. It's certainly not paradise. But the Internet allows people on opposite sides of the world to communicate instantly. It has brought about countless technological advancements, and it has created millions of jobs and formed the backbone for protests across the globe.

Complaining about the Internet because it allows people to get free porn is like complaining about the printing press because it allowed Stephanie Meyer to publish Twilight. There are downsides to everything, but the world would be a far worse place without the Internet.

I never said it was simple. Like I said before, everything has drawbacks.

The invention of cars has caused millions of deaths and injuries to occur, as well as massively increased pollution levels and cost tons of resources to produce all the vehicles used today.

Would you choose to live in a world without cars? I'm guessing not.

The Internet has its problems, but it's a net gain for the world, whether you want it to exist or not.

I wonder to what degree the world would be a worse place "without the internet" alone. It is certainly a great medium for cross national/cultural communication.
The backbones of protests have been easily formed since the 70s (if not earlier) thanks to the television, radio, newspapers and leaflets. That's taken in consideration of both local and international concerns.
And (of course) technological advancements and jobs have been affected by ease of access and opportunities.
I'm not saying you are wrong, Jedi. But a lot of people got the habit of misreading words such as bring, create and form as "being the sole contributor of".

Oh! And before piracy is brought up and being gnawed on: Piracy has been a concern of breaking down the film and music industry since long before the internet (not to mention before the VCR and compact cassettes).
Piracy has the past few decades increased availability as well as reducing the price of products. Which the industry has been following up on a lot, and which the internet has been providing increased opportunities of this for these industries.
But it is a sad thing when people are exploiting piracy for undercut prices, simply "because they can".