Re: Fw: The Internet minefield Federal court ruling averts jumble of unknown regulations in on-line case

On Sat, 9 Nov 2002, David Poehlman wrote:

they obviously have no clue as to the "REAL" problem  
this court ruling was just another of the recent rulings to whittle away
the rights of people with disabilities

Bob

> 
> 
> 
> >Omaha World-Herald
> >Thursday, October 24, 2002
> >
> >The Internet minefield Federal court ruling averts jumble of unknown
> >regulations in on-line case
> >
> >On the surface, it sounds like a blatantly frivolous lawsuit: a blind
> man
> >suing Southwest Airlines, trying to force the company to make its Web
> site
> >easier for blind people to navigate.
> >
> >Even knowing that various screen readers can translate electronic text
> >into speech or Braille doesn't dilute the feeling that common sense won
> >the day.
> >
> >U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said the ADA - Americans With
> >Disabilities Act - 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 an opinion dismissing the case. Imagine the
> >consequences for any company doing business online if the ADA were
> >expanded to the Internet. Thousands of small companies have just enough
> >expertise to put up a Web site at all, without being beset by worries
> >about making it compatible with electronic readers. And as with many
> >technologies, a variety of screen readers exists. Would companies have
> to
> >test their sites with all of them?
> >
> >Then there would be the consequences beyond compatibility with screen
> >readers. Criminals with high blood pressure, students with learning
> >disabilities and golfers with bum legs have tested the limits of
> current
> >ADA definitions. Imagine the almost unlimited claims if the Internet
> were
> >included.
> >
> >Disabled Americans have made many important strides since the ADA's
> 1990
> >passage. They have entered the work force in unprecedented numbers.
> They
> >have enjoyed well-deserved access to public social events that others
> take
> >for granted. Now, technology is starting to bring the world to their
> >fingertips through the World Wide Web.
> >
> >The Web has produced many benefits. But it is still in its infancy;
> there
> >are many unknowns right now in how to regulate it. We're glad to see
> the
> >courts declining to add to that gray area.
> 

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Received on Saturday, 9 November 2002 19:29:23 UTC