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10-22-2002, 02:12 AM
Judge: Disabilities Act doesn't cover Web (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html)
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 21, 2002, 3:04 PM PT
update A federal judge ruled Friday that Southwest Airlines does not have to revamp its Web site to make it more accessible to the blind.
In the first case of its kind, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies only to physical spaces, such as restaurants and movie theaters, and not to the Internet.
"To expand the ADA to cover 'virtual' spaces would be to create new rights without well-defined standards," Seitz wrote in a 12-page opinion (http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/viewer/viewer.asp?file=/cases/opinions/02CV21734d24.pdf) dismissing the case. "The plain and unambiguous language of the statute and relevant regulations does not include Internet Web sites."
If Southwest had lost this case, and the decision had been upheld on appeal, the outcome would have had far-reaching effects by imposing broad new requirements on companies hoping to do business online.
Access Now, an advocacy group for the blind, and a blind man named Robert Gumson filed the lawsuit in an attempt to compel Southwest to redesign its Web site to make it easier for blind people to navigate. They admitted that it was possible for the blind to buy tickets on Southwest's site, but argued it was "extremely difficult."
Gumson, who said he had a screen reader with a voice synthesizer on his computer, asked the judge to order Southwest to provide text that could serve as an alternative to the graphics on its site and to redesign the site's navigation bar to make it easier for him to understand. He and his lawyers also asked for attorney fees and costs.
The ADA says that any "place of public accommodation" must be accessible to people with disabilities. The law, enacted in 1990, lists 12 categories, including hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, universities and bowling alleys.
Seitz said that because Congress was so careful to specify what kinds of physical spaces are covered by the ADA, it's clear the act does not apply to the Internet. She noted that the World Wide Web Consortium had drafted ccessibility guidelines (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-225457.html), but said the document (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/) was over three years old and there is no indication that the guidelines are "a generally accepted authority."
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Click here to read more (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html)
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
October 21, 2002, 3:04 PM PT
update A federal judge ruled Friday that Southwest Airlines does not have to revamp its Web site to make it more accessible to the blind.
In the first case of its kind, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies only to physical spaces, such as restaurants and movie theaters, and not to the Internet.
"To expand the ADA to cover 'virtual' spaces would be to create new rights without well-defined standards," Seitz wrote in a 12-page opinion (http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/viewer/viewer.asp?file=/cases/opinions/02CV21734d24.pdf) dismissing the case. "The plain and unambiguous language of the statute and relevant regulations does not include Internet Web sites."
If Southwest had lost this case, and the decision had been upheld on appeal, the outcome would have had far-reaching effects by imposing broad new requirements on companies hoping to do business online.
Access Now, an advocacy group for the blind, and a blind man named Robert Gumson filed the lawsuit in an attempt to compel Southwest to redesign its Web site to make it easier for blind people to navigate. They admitted that it was possible for the blind to buy tickets on Southwest's site, but argued it was "extremely difficult."
Gumson, who said he had a screen reader with a voice synthesizer on his computer, asked the judge to order Southwest to provide text that could serve as an alternative to the graphics on its site and to redesign the site's navigation bar to make it easier for him to understand. He and his lawyers also asked for attorney fees and costs.
The ADA says that any "place of public accommodation" must be accessible to people with disabilities. The law, enacted in 1990, lists 12 categories, including hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, universities and bowling alleys.
Seitz said that because Congress was so careful to specify what kinds of physical spaces are covered by the ADA, it's clear the act does not apply to the Internet. She noted that the World Wide Web Consortium had drafted ccessibility guidelines (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-225457.html), but said the document (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/) was over three years old and there is no indication that the guidelines are "a generally accepted authority."
....
Click here to read more (http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html)