Martha Lane-Fox has thrown her weight behind a campaign to get all of the UK online by 2015.
The co-founder of LastMinute.com and the Government's official "Digital Champion," has launched a manifesto for the cause, claiming there are 10 million people in the UK who have never been online and getting them connected will improve their lives significantly.
"By getting more people online, everyone wins," she said. "Businesses are competing for more online customers. Government needs to deliver better for less. Charities want to support the people they serve better. So we are calling on them to work together and tackle the unfairness and lost opportunities caused by digital exclusion, and deliver positive social change."
"As industry, the media and increasingly Government, expand ever faster into digital-only services, the manifesto identifies the need for urgent action to stop some sections of society being left offline and excluded from many aspects of everyday life in the UK," she added.
The first target has used the Olympics as an inspiration, with a plan to get millions more online by 2012. However, the overall goal is to get everybody online by the end of this parliament.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who reappointed Lane-Fox as Digital champion after she had been awarded the role by the previous Labour Government, has pledged his support to the campaign.
"In the internet age, we need to ensure that people aren't being left behind as more and more services and business move online," he said.
"But this issue isn't just about fairness - as Martha's work shows, promoting digital inclusion is essential for a dynamic modern economy and can help to make government more efficient and effective."
Lane-Fox is due to meet with the Prime Minister this afternoon to discuss the manifesto further.
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