Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself?

Reed Hastings, the founder and chief executive of Netflix, argues that at the advent of any new technology — television, cars, even rockets — people get riled up and wring their hands over a growing gap between the haves and have-nots. He said that gaps narrow naturally as the market evolves and prices drop, enabling more people to bring new technology into the home and schools. One of Google's founders, Sergey Brin, says connecting to Internet will eventually be like electricity: easy and cheap.