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Thread: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
Number of posts in this thread: 11 (In chronological order)
From: Michael R. Burks
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 8:40AM
Subject: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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All,
This is great news!!!!
http://www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com/final_settlement.htm
Mike Burks
919 870 8788 - Office
919-882-1884 - Fax
703-254-3881 - Cell
From: Wendy Chisholm
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 9:00AM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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Target has agreed to meet the "Target Online Assistive Technology
Guidelines ... attached as Exhibit C." I'm not finding them. Anyone
else? I'd like to see how they compare to Section 508, WCAG 1.0 and
WCAG 2.0.
Thanks,
--wendy
On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 7:37 AM, Michael R. Burks
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> All,
>
> This is great news!!!!
>
> http://www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com/final_settlement.htm
>
> Mike Burks
>
> 919 870 8788 - Office
>
> 919-882-1884 - Fax
>
> 703-254-3881 - Cell
>
>
>
>
>
From: Moore, Michael
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 9:10AM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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My read is that they are only agreeing to make the site compatible with
screen readers. No mention of which screen readers, no mention of
compliance with any recognized standards, no mention of other assistive
technologies or even keyboard access without a screen reader.
They also are not admitting to any wrongdoing. The $6M settlement is
barely a slap on the wrist for a company with $59 billion in revenue
last year.
mike
From: Jared Smith
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 9:20AM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 8:37 AM, Michael R. Burks
< = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> All,
>
> This is great news!!!!
>
> http://www.nfbtargetlawsuit.com/final_settlement.htm
Is it really? It's good news for the NFB, its claimants, and Jim
Thatcher (in the sum of $6 million+), but I think the majority of the
accessibility community was hoping for some long-awaited case law that
might better define the relationship of the Internet and the Americans
with Disabilities Act. Instead of all corporations receiving
clarification that they are ALL legally obligated to make their web
sites accessible, they can now take comfort in the fact that if they
aren't big/rich enough for NFB and the gang to come after them, that
they can maintain the status quo of, at best, marginal accessibility.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with the outcome and I do think it
will motivate large corporate retailers to become accessible, but
without clarification of the true legal obligation, I fear the
influence of this settlement will not be very significant.
Jared Smith
WebAIM
From: Jared Smith
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 11:50AM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 9:17 AM, Jared Smith < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Is it really? It's good news for the NFB, its claimants, and Jim
> Thatcher (in the sum of $6 million+), but I think the majority of the
> accessibility community was hoping for some long-awaited case law that
> might better define the relationship of the Internet and the Americans
> with Disabilities Act.
I need to clarify my comments here. My wording above seems to suggest
self-interest by all parties involved. This is not what I intended.
Jim Thatcher is a consultant with NFB and will not be a direct
recipient of settlement monies. While I'm unaware of what his future
involvement will be in making the target web site more accessible as
part of this settlement, I have nothing but glowing praise for Jim and
the work he has done in the web accessibility field. My comment was
not to suggest self-interest on Jim's part, but to recognize him as
having played a significant role in this positive outcome. Indeed the
outcome likely would have been different without Jim's expertise. He
has always acted in the best interest of people with disabilities.
As a web consultancy, WebAIM has greatly benefited from work with
other corporate entities who are interested in web accessibility and
in minimizing liability, most of this a result of publicity
surrounding the Target lawsuit. I suspect this ruling will make us and
fellow web accessibility consultants even more in demand. Despite
this, I still feel that in this case the overall benefit to people
with disabilities is not nearly as significant as it would have been
if definitive case law had been established.
I've written an overview of the settlement and provided some
commentary on our blog at
http://webaim.org/blog/target-lawsuit-settled/
Jared Smith
WebAIM
From: Cynthia Waddell
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 12:40PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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Everyone,
You will find pertinent information about the Target web accessibility
settlement posted at the www.dralegal.org website.
The Target Online Assistive Technology Guidelines - Exhibit C - is posted as
a Word document at
http://www.dralegal.org/cases/private_business/nfb_v_target.php.
Best regards,
Cynthia Waddell
--------------------------------------------------
Cynthia D. Waddell, JD
Executive Director and
Law, Policy and Technology Consultant
International Center for Disability Resources
on the Internet (ICDRI)
Phone: (408) 691-6921
ICDRI is based in
Raleigh, North Carolina USA
http://www.icdri.org/CynthiaW/cynthia_d.htm
See My New Book!
Web Accessibility: Web Standards and
Regulatory Compliance by Apress
at www.icdri.org/WSR_Book.htm
See also Constructing Accessible Web Sites
www.icdri.org/constructing_accessible_web_site.htm
Is your Web Site Accessible?
Find out now with Cynthia Says! www.cynthiasays.com
Endorsed by the American Council of the Blind,
the CynthiaSaysTM portal is a joint Education
and Outreach project of ICDRI, The Internet
Society Disability and Special Needs Chapter,
and HiSoftware.
From: Tracy Edge
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 5:10PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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That is good news!
Tracy Edge
SVP of Technology
Cell: 804-647-3900
Office: 804-918-1027
Have you tried our Free Accessibility Review?
From: Michael R. Burks
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 5:20PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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Tracy,
Yes it is!
Mike Burks
919 870 8788 - Office
919-882-1884 - Fax
703-254-3881 - Cell
From: Terry Thompson
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 6:30PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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I'm impressed by the Target Online Assistive Technology Guidelines. The
level of detail, complete with images and code samples from the Target
website, would seem to be an extremely useful resource for Target web
developers.
I agree with Jared though that it would have been nice if this had resulted
in case law that clarifies web accessibility from an ADA standpoint. Without
that clarification, does this strengthen the need for web/IT accessibility
to be addressed in the ADA Amendments, as recommended in Cyndi's blog post
back in June?
http://www.webaim.org/blog/update-on-the-ada/
Other than this blog post, I'm not seeing much buzz about web accessibility
in the ADA Amendments discussions. What's the status of this, and what
further actions should web accessibility advocates take?
Thanks,
Terry
Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Accessible Technology
UW Technology Services
University of Washington
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
206/221-4168
>
From: Nancy Johnson
Date: Thu, Aug 28 2008 12:00PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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I had a question regarding the terms of this lawsuit?
This lawsuit was brought by the NFB to aid the vision impaired. I
don't know if there is audio on Target's website for instance. Will
the training that Target will receive be broad enough to help folks
with all types of disabilities?
Thanks
Nancy
From: Terry Thompson
Date: Thu, Aug 28 2008 12:10PM
Subject: Re: Target and NFB agree to Settlment
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Hi Nancy,
I haven't done a full item-by-item comparison of Target's guidelines with
the WCAG or Section 508 standards, but at a glance it seems to be pretty
all-inclusive. For example, there are guidelines related to appropriate use
of color, color contrast, photo-sensitivity issues, etc. Guideline 1.1.1,
although fairly broadly stated, does specifically address multimedia
accessibility:
> Improve the usability of all time-based and interactive multimedia -
including Flash and Acrobat content - by using text captioning and/or
synchronized audio.
Terry
Terry Thompson
Technology Accessibility Specialist
DO-IT, Accessible Technology
UW Technology Services
University of Washington
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
206/221-4168
>