A DECADE ago, an internet connection capable of streaming a film or transmitting a video call was considered a luxury. Today, for much of the world, it is a necessity.

On July 15th, President Barack Obama launched an initiative that he hopes will bring this necessity to more low-income American households. The program, called “ConnectHome”, is a partnership between government, tech companies and non-profit organisations that will provide low-cost broadband internet, digital literacy programs and other resources to 275,000 public-housing developments in 28 locations across the country.

ConnectHome is the latest White House effort to bridge the so-called “digital divide”, the gap in IT access and know-how between the rich and the poor. America's digital divide has narrowed in recent years but is still large for a rich country. In 2013, for example, approximately 67% of households in the Bronx borough of New York City had a broadband internet subscription; 5% had an ultrahigh-speed fibre-optic connection. In Manhattan, just across the Harlem River, the figures were 80% and 9%, respectively.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, once famously tweeted "this is for everyone" of his creation. If ConnectHome proves successful, that sentiment—for Americans at least—may be on the way to becoming a reality.