Executive Office of the President, May 2014:  [snipped] “Today, data is more deeply woven into the fabric of our lives than ever before. We aspire to use data to solve problems, improve well-being, and generate economic prosperity. The collection, storage, and analysis of data is on an upward and seemingly unbounded trajectory, fueled by increases in processing power, the cratering costs of computation and storage, and the growing number of sensor technologies embedded in devices of all kinds. In 2011, some estimated the amount of information created and replicated would surpass 1.8 zettabytes. In 2013, estimates reached 4 zettabytes of data generated worldwide. More than 500 million photos are uploaded and shared every day, along with more than 200 hours of video every minute. But the volume of information that people create themselves – the full range of communications from voice calls, emails and texts to uploaded pictures, video, and music—pales in comparison to the amount of digital information created about them each day. These trends will continue. We are only in the very nascent stage of the so-called “Internet-of Things,” when our appliances, our vehicles, and a growing set of “wearable” technologies will be able to communicate with each other. Technological advances have driven down the cost of creating, capturing, managing, and storing information to one sixth of what it was in 2005. And since 2005, business investment in hardware, software, talent, and services has increased as much as 50 percent, to $4 trillion.”