Investigators attempted to add up all the digital information produced last year. That includes “all the ones and zeros that make up photos, videos, e-mails, Web pages, instant messages, phone calls and other digital content cascading through our world today. Add it all up and IDC determined that the world generated 161 billion gigabytes – 161 exabytes – of digital information last year. That’s like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun.”