RE: New York Attorney General holds ADA applies to Web Businesses.

I'm not a lawyer either, but I found it interesting that Priceline.com is 
not headquartered in NY, but was incorporated in Delaware and is 
headquartered in Connecticut (See note 1 SEC filings).  Also, Ramada.com 
has a  "Term of Use" agreement (see note 2) that includes a section 11 on 
the governing laws and jurisdiction.  [Yes, this is only the second time I 
actually read the terms of use of a web site/application.]  It basically 
says that you agree to be governed by the laws of the State of New Jersey. 
 

Thatcher said:
"If you look in detail, you will find that the agreement is pretty close 
to WCAG AA ..." 

Does the State of New York or New Jersey actually specify WCAG 1.0, or was 
that just used by AGO?

So if I incorporate in a state that uses the 508 web standards, am I held 
to those guidelines, or if I incorporate in a state that uses the WCAG 1.0 
standards, am I held to those standards?  Can I pick which state (or 
country) I choose to operate under?  Can I pick which standard (or level a 
double A, or triple AAA) I choose to follow? 

There is also a priceline.co.uk, a London based travel services, and they 
invest in an Asian travel service, also called Priceline.com, that 
operates in Hong Kong and Singapore.  Which accessibility standard is 
applicable to these two sites?  Does the U.K.'s DDA specify a particular 
standard - such as WCAG 1.0 A (priority 1)?

Forgive me for wandering into the policy discussion, but it is the policy 
(laws, policies, purchasing regulations, etc) that typically points to 
technical standard, or includes the technical specs as does 508 and ADA 
[although ADA does NOT reference Web accessibility standards], or leaves 
it totally open with statements like "must be accessible to people with 
disabilities".  In this New York case, it seems that the policy under 
which the complaint was filed was the ADA, but I'm confused why the 508 
Web standard wasn't chosen or cited as the standard since it is also a 
Federal policy like the ADA.

Regards,
Phill Jenkins
IBM Research - Accessibility Center
www.ibm.com/able


Note 1 SEC filings 
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=pcln&script=1901)

Note 2 Terms of Use http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/terms_of_use






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