More Americans have broadband but 'digital divides' remain

Millions of Americans signed up for broadband Internet access over the past decade, but "digital divides" persist among different income levels, ethnic groups and geographical areas of the country, according to a new government report.

Some 63.5 percent of U.S. households had broadband Internet access at home in 2009, up from just 9.2 percent in 2001, the Department of Commerce reported Monday. No matter how government analysts sliced the data, each segment of the population studied showed dramatic gains in broadband adoption.

But the report made clear that despite these gains, the nation continues to see a digital divide in broadband adoption. First identified by policymakers in the 1990s, the digital divide represents the difference in Internet adoption rates between different groups of the population, typically between high-income and low-income families, between younger and older Americans or between whites and other ethnic groups.

In the latest report, the Commerce Department found that 23 percent of Americans don't use the Internet at all. An additional 8 percent use the Internet, but not at home. And 5 percent of Americans have only dial-up access at home.

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