Bridging the digital divide

The Internet has ushered in the greatest period of wealth creation in history. It's rocked the way we deliver and receive information and the way we do business.

	Introduction The widening gap Case studies Burkina Faso Mongolia Morocco United States

And so, for many, it is easy to accept euphoric claims - like those of Vice President Al Gore - that the Internet is also bringing about a brave new world replete with an "electronic agora" and "online democracy".

It's not. More than 80% of people in the world have never even heard a dial tone, let alone surfed the Web. And the gap between the information haves and have-nots is widening.

In a speech this week at Telecom 99 in Geneva, Switzerland, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan warned of the danger of excluding the world's poor from the information revolution.

"People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them," he said.

In this special report, BBC News Online probes the growing gap between the information rich and information poor: How big is it? Why is it so hard to close? And how are individuals and communities around the globe trying to bridge the digital divide?