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Re: No decision from the Appeals court

for

From: John Foliot - WATS.ca
Date: Sep 29, 2004 12:51PM

Jim Thatcher wrote:
> The only
> question arising in this thread is whether or not the ADA
> applies to the
> Web. Some think it does, including the Attorney General of
> New York, and the
> Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. I do too.
> One judge in a
> District Court in Florida, thinks not. That's the score. Stay tuned.
>
> Jim
>

Hmmm...

Jim, seeing as I am in Canada (a sovereign nation with it's own laws),
things aren't quite as simple as that - the web of today is a lot more than
ARPANET was. Just look at how often you get spam offering to ship
prescription meds from my country to yours .

While the US Section 508 and ADA are good starting points for web
accessibility (perhaps critical in the USA), Canadian Federal government web
sites are mandated to achieve WCAG P1 and P2 (whether or not they succeed is
a whole other story...).

So while it is important that governments and law-makers understand and
advocate the issues, one law in one country does not the accessible web
make. I look forward to a day when the W3C (an international body) can
categorically provide a measurable Standard or set of standards that can be
agreed to internationally, and when all developers understand that it is not
only the legal thing to do but also *right* thing to do. (And I hope to
live to see that day!)

Cheers!

JF
--
John Foliot <EMAIL REMOVED>
Web Accessibility Specialist / Co-founder of WATS.ca
Web Accessibility Testing and Services
http://www.wats.ca 1.866.932.4878 (North America)