Language is also a barrier for Spanish-speaking people, said Aaron Smith, a senior research specialist with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a nonpartisan research group.

But overall, Smith said, racial digital divides appear to be narrowing over time.

And the prevalence of mobile devices that access the internet brings new hope for broader access to the Web, he said.

"The nature of that divide is changing as internet access goes from something that just occurs at home or on a big screen with a dedicated high-speed connection to something that's much more mobile and much more transient -- something that stays with you wherever you are," he said.

He also said income and education are still more important factors than race when it comes to predicting whether a person has internet access.

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