- From: David Woolley <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>
- Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 14:49:37 +0000 (GMT)
- To: w3c-wai-ig@w3.org
> > When I know how to build accessible sites, I have the democratic duty to > build them, no matter what it costs. I think you mean "moral". Unless a democratically elected government imposes laws to the above effect, I think there is no democratic duty. However, businesses don't even assume a moral duty; their duty is to do what their shareholders want, which is generally to maximise profits; legitimate businesses generally do this by keeping just within the law (or at least not to far out to impose a serious risk to them) and not doing things that discourage customers; organised crime does it by breaking laws, as well as moral codes. As to cost, cost is a way of quantifying priorities. These priorities can be between different moral duties, as well as between the moral and the unethical. Money spent on an accessible web site may be money not spent on pollution control. As shareholders are often pension funds, the moral conflict can be between preventing poverty in the old and achieving accessibility for the disabled. (There is also a moral duty to honour ones word, so ingnoring the shareholders creates a conflict.)
Received on Sunday, 16 December 2001 11:50:52 UTC