http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/09/05/digital.divide.ap/index.htmlWASHINGTON (AP) -- Many more white children use the Internet than do Hispanic and black students, a reminder that going online is hardly a way of life for everyone.
Two of every three white students -- 67 percent -- use the Internet, but less than half of blacks and Hispanics do, according to federal data released Tuesday. For Hispanics the figure is 44 percent; for blacks, it's 47 percent.
"This creates incredible barriers for minorities," said Mark Lloyd, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an expert on how communications influence civil rights.
Not using the Internet "narrows their ability to even think about the kind of work they can be doing," Lloyd said. "It doesn't prepare them for a world in which they're going to be expected to know how to do these things."
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So, the question is, have we reached a point in our society where equality means providing Internet access to all people? And can we accomplish this, or at least assuage the problem, by providing wireless Internet access to entire cities, as they do in Philadelphia?