The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.
Legal Precedent Set for Web Accessibility
On September 6th 2006, a Californian federal judge ruled that a retailer may be sued if its website is inaccessible to the blind.
The ruling was issued in a case brought by the National Federation of the Blind on behalf of blind college student, Bruce “BJ” Sexton against Target. The lawsuit, originally filed in Alameda superior court on February 7th 2006, claims that the Target website is inaccessible to the blind and therefore violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the California Disabled Persons Act.
Target asked the court to dismiss the action by arguing that it was not legally required to make its website accessible and that only its high street stores were covered by the civil rights laws. However, the court ruled that the federal and state civil rights laws applied to all services provided by Target – including its web site.
The action brought by NFB focusses on the fact that Target’s site fails to provide appropriate alt text, make use of inaccessible image maps and does not fully support keyboard navigation. As the site currently stands, blind customers are unable to make purchases on target.com independently.
This new ruling has now clarified that, under US law, service providers and retailers, will be required to ensure that they do not discriminate when they use web sites to enhance any service that they offer at a physical location.