WCAG Extensions and Rationale (was Legal Settlement Agreements that Reference WCAG)

Hi Judy and all,

On 7/30/15, Judy Brewer <jbrewer@w3.org> wrote:
> As for legal settlement agreements referencing WCAG, that's not in the
> scope of the WCAG WG either. There is a policy references page
> (currently being updated) that EOWG maintains in support of harmonized
> standards uptake; a listing of agreements might perhaps be peripherally
> related to that, but we would need to confirm with EOWG before moving it
> there and they may also feel that it is out of scope.
>
> Please let me know if you have questions.

It is great to hear from you. I do have some questions.

But first let me say that I am very sorry that you feel the Legal
Settlement Agreements that Reference WCAG 2.0 Wiki page [1] is
irrelevant to the WCAG WG. I originally created it to help inform WCAG
WG discourse and had thought that the document may have not only fit
into the draft charter's [2] statement, "Develop support materials as
needed to explain the application of WCAG 2.0 to particular
situations" but moreover be useful for the discussion on the topic of
WCAG extensions. The legal situation seems to be an underlying
rationale for the WCAG WG taking the extension route.

Although the legal situation is not explicitly called out in the draft
charter, it seems to be a reality.  In the "WCAG extension" thread
Sailesh [3] talked about how "WCAG 2 is a guideline or standard if you
will, and is "often incorporated  / referenced into law and that
changing WCAG2 by an extension may require changes to such laws too.
Wayne mentioned how using extensions would give time for legal changes
[4]. WCAG 2.0 is being or has been incorporated into law in various
places around the world (for example [5]). The wiki page in fact was
an attempt to inform this discussion by documenting how legal
settlements are indeed referencing WCAG 2.0. The page includes:

* 16 City, County, Village Settlements
* 10 Commercial Settlements
* 12 Educational Settlements
* 2 Other Organization Settlements

22 of those were in the past 6 months. WCAG 2.0 sure seems to have
increasing legal implications. The page presents 40 US legal
agreements that I am currently aware of. An attorney who has a
practice specializing in accessibility contacted me after reading the
document to say she knows of more settlements than what is currently
listed.

Anyway, a repercussion of this legal situation and because of WCAG
2.0's stability and consensus, it appears that the working group can't
tweak core WCAG 2.0 without risk. It also seems that this is
underlying rationale leading to the proposed approach of WCAG 2.0 +
extensions as opposed to a WCAG 2.1 or a WCAG 3.0 approach. Judy, is
this correct? If this is off base, what is the main rationale for WCAG
taking the extensions route? Modularity? Speed? Something else? Can
you please address the questions of "Why not update WCAG?" and "Why
extensions?" Intelligent people have been asking. I am in good faith
trying to understand and piece things together. Your insight would be
most appreciated.

With all of that said, if you still deem the WCAG 2.0 legal settlement
documentation irrelevant and not useful to the WCAG WG, please accept
my sincere apologies and have it removed from the WCAG Wiki (I don't
think I have the permissions to do it myself). If the EO Working Group
or anyone else finds it useful, they are more than welcome to it. For
anyone wanting a stable version of the document, the original is
available [6].

Does EO have documentation for which laws around the world reference
WCAG 2.0? That may also help inform our discussion on extensions.

Thank you.

Kindest Regards,
Laura
[1] https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Legal_Settlement_Agreements_that_Reference_WCAG
[2] http://www.w3.org/2015/04/draft-wcag-charter
[3] https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2015JulSep/0108.html
[4] https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2015JulSep/0104.html
[5] "KHS: Makoto Ueki wants to rejoin the working group, and he felt
there would be great interest and attendance for a meeting in Japan
because of the new laws going into effect in Japan based on WCAG2...I
would like to see most items fall at levels A and AA, since most laws
only take those levels."
http://www.w3.org/2015/04/07-wai-wcag-minutes.html
[6] http://www.d.umn.edu/~lcarlson/wcagwg/settlements/

On 7/30/15, Judy Brewer <jbrewer@w3.org> wrote:
> As for legal settlement agreements referencing WCAG, that's not in the
> scope of the WCAG WG either. There is a policy references page
> (currently being updated) that EOWG maintains in support of harmonized
> standards uptake; a listing of agreements might perhaps be peripherally
> related to that, but we would need to confirm with EOWG before moving it
> there and they may also feel that it is out of scope.
>
> Please let me know if you have questions.
>
> Thank you,
>
> - Judy

>>
>>> On 7/30/15, Laura Carlson <laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Hi Jon,
>>>>
>>>> My pleasure.
>>>>
>>>> I don't have the dates at hand but  I'll put it on my to do list. Most
>>>> are fairly recent.
>>>>
>>>> Kindest Regards,
>>>> Laura
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 7/30/15, Gunderson, Jon R <jongund@illinois.edu> wrote:
>>>>> Laura,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for setting up this resource.
>>>>>
>>>>> Could you possibly add the dates of the settlements?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you again,
>>>>>
>>>>> Jon
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Laura Carlson [mailto:laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com]
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2015 1:38 PM
>>>>> To: GLWAI Guidelines WG org <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
>>>>> Subject: New Wiki Page: Legal Settlement Agreements that Reference
>>>>> WCAG
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>> I put up a new Wiki page: Legal Settlement Agreements that Reference
>>>>> WCAG.
>>>>> It is at:
>>>>> https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Legal_Settlement_Agreements_that_Reference_WCAG
>>>>>
>>>>> If you have additions, please let me know or edit at will.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>> Kindest Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Laura
> --
> Judy Brewer
> Director, Web Accessibility Initiative
> at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
> 32 Vassar St. Room G-526, MIT/CSAIL
> Cambridge MA 02149 USA
> www.w3.org/WAI/
-- 
Laura L. Carlson

Received on Saturday, 1 August 2015 12:55:48 UTC