When most people think of Kentucky they probably think of fried chicken. But now it may be celebrated for another reason. It claims to be the first US state to make it compulsory for all new homes funded by the Kentucky Housing Corporation to have high-speed access to the internet. By insisting that broadband access, like electricity and water, is among the "inalienable rights" of low-income residents, Kentucky is setting an example to the rest of the world about how to tackle the "digital divide" between the haves and the have-nots of the information revolution. They are right. Although people who adopt it often become blase, there is no doubt the net gives a huge advantage to subscribers. It provides access to knowledge about almost everything there is to know plus extras like email, music, videos, auctions and shopping.

Although access to the internet in the UK is still rising by 9% a year - with a surge of new broadband connections making up for a slight decline in slow dial-up connections - there are danger signals in the air. Poorer people are put off by the still-high cost of buying a computer. There are other routes to the web - like interactive TV, personal digital assistants, BT public kiosks and mobile phones - but they haven't taken off yet for web access. There are also fascinating new ways of getting high speed web access. There is a boom in Wi-Fi "hotspots" around the country in homes. offices, coffee bars and hotels offering high speed access to laptop computers through local wireless networks. Ironically, the spectrum enabling this was given away free by the government while the 3G spectrum for which mobile phone companies paid £22.5bn, has yet to be activated. Scottish Hydro-Electric claims it has completed a successful technical trial delivering high-speed web access along existing power lines. Since virtually every home has electricity this could provide a solution to one of the stickiest problems of the digital divide - rural access. This won't solve the problem of the cost of computers but that may be resolved eventually by the acceptance of digital TV. Meanwhile, despite BT's latterday conversion to a speedy broadband roll-out, there is still a massive job to be done. Sadly, the government can't impose a Kentucky solution because it doesn't build houses any more. But there is another way. It could make broadband access a condition for planning permission for all new houses.