- From: Kelly Ford <kford@teleport.com>
- Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2000 15:55:27 -0800
- To: kford@teleport.com
For URLs to all the testimony at the hearing see the info after this article. Internet, Disabilities Act Examined > By Janelle Carter > Associated Press Writer > Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000; 4:57 p.m. EST > WASHINGTON -- The constantly-evolving technology of the Internet makes it > difficult to develop regulations to apply the Americans with Disabilities > Act to the World Wide Web, a top Internet industry official told Congress > on Wednesday. > But advocates for the disabled argued they were being denied access to the > "window to the world." > "The Internet is not just a window on the world. More and more the > Internet is the world," Gary Wunder, a University of Missouri programming > analyst who is blind, told the House Judiciary subcommittee. "It is where > we shop and it is where we make our living." > Dennis Hayes, chairman of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, said the > industry has made progress but continued education is needed. He asked > Congress for money to fund research on ways to bridge the gap. > "The application of the ADA to the Internet in some kind of > 'one-size-fits-all' mandate is not the right approach," Hayes said. "The > answer to the problem of accessibility is not regulation, but rather > education and participation." > The hearing came as lawmakers begin to look at the impact the 1990 ADA law > has on the Internet. > The world has become more computer savvy since the law's enactment, and > many Americans use the Internet daily to communicate and do business. > Disabled groups complain that the technology has grown without them. > In November, the National Federation of the Blind filed a federal lawsuit > against America Online Inc., charging that the world's largest Internet > service is incompatible with software programs that convert text to audio > or Braille. > Wunder told of how he had to give up his job as a manager because of the > lack of compatible software. > "What we need is achievable. What we're asking is reasonable," Wunder > said. > Some people have questioned whether applying the ADA to the Internet would > stifle its growth and hinder free speech exhibited through the millions of > existing Internet web pages. Others questioned how to make ADA regulations > apply when the Internet exists beyond the United States. > Walter Olsen, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, expressed > concern that regulations would result in "hundreds of millions" of > webpages being torn down. > "It would be hard to find a better way to curb the currently explosive > upsurge of this new publishing and commercial medium than to menace > private actors with liability if they publish pages that fail to live up > to some expert body's idea of accessibility in site design," Olsen said. > © Copyright 2000 The Associated Press *** Dennis Hayes http://www.house.gov/judiciary/hay30209.htm Gary Wunder http://www.house.gov/judiciary/wund0209.htm Dr. Steven Lucas http://www.house.gov/judiciary/luca0209.htm Judy Brewer http://www.house.gov/judiciary/brew0209.htm Susyn Conway http://www.house.gov/judiciary/conw0209.htm Elizabeth K. Dorminey http://www.house.gov/judiciary/dorm0209.htm Peter D. Blanck http://www.house.gov/judiciary/blan0209.htm Walter Olson http://www.house.gov/judiciary/olso0209.htm Charles J. Cooper http://www.house.gov/judiciary/coop0209.htm
Received on Wednesday, 9 February 2000 18:48:33 UTC