網際網路自1993年以來發展極為迅速。然而網路使用者數量的增加未必保證社會 成員有均等的機會使用網路。商業競爭的本質、科技高速的發展、通訊管道的配置、以及財 富分配的不均，都可能影響人們接近使用網路的機會。而接近使用網路機會的不均等，反過 頭來又可能造成社經地位鴻溝的擴大。為了確保社會成員有較平等的接近使用權，網路政策 應從「普及服務」的概念擴張至「普及使用」。也就是說，不僅應該考慮網路全面性服務， 並且應該考慮各個族群的使用能力。

　　　　　This article focuses upon the access issue of Internet. Although the number of the Internet users has sharply increased since 1993, the technology is still not available to many people in the society. It is argued that the existing societal-economic gap is one of the most important explanations why some people are unable to access Internet. The prior research indicated that high-income, highly-educated people are more easily to access to new media than those who are low-income, less educated. The "knowledge gap" caused by the access to the new technologies may reversely contribute to the social disparities in the future. In order to ensure that most people in the society has access to computer network, future national policy should move from "universal service" to " universal access." In other words, the goal of network policy should be able not only to make network available to everyone, but also to ensure their capability to access the contents.