[gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press releaseConcerningAccessibilityofWeb Site

Fri Jan 4 15:12:03 CST 2008

Raul,

thanks for the clarification. There doesn't need to be much of a 
coincidence, as you suspect. Amazon may actually have some legal "exposure" 
or vulnerability, at least potentially, due to the connection. Although to 
know what the situation actually is, you'd have to know someone who knew the 
situation. In the legal sense, if Amazon were only a technology provider to 
Target and didn't have its own Web site, what would matter is whether they'd 
fall into the legal category of agency in relation to Target, which is the 
target of the suit. But they can't be construed as an agent of Target, 
because they're not representing target commercially to the public in that 
sense. Rather, they're a provider of services *to* Target,and the primary 
legal responsibility rests on Target for their Web site design, no matter 
who did the work for them.

anyway, as you're guessing, I agree that the target affair most certainly 
must be at least some of Amazon's inspiration to do the right thing by us. 
This is interesting to watch. I have to say that even after reading a number 
of articles and press releases about the Target suit, I'm not clear about 
just what features or functions of the Target site aren't accessible to 
screen readers. though I've never opted to purchase something online from 
Target, I've often explored that site looking for items I was "window 
shopping" for, and although I confess I've usually thought the Target pages 
to be pretty busy and awkward to search easily, none of that seems to have 
much to do with basic accesibility lapses, just cluttered page design. By 
comparison, I do patronize Amazon enough to have contributed to Jeff Bezos's 
nice quarterly bottom line, and there I have actual screen reader issues. 
Like the Amazon product page you get after clicking on an item, which is 
like a field of mud to slog through with jaws. Or the one click settings 
address book which is very difficult to modify successfully with Jaws and 
keyboard, to put it mildly. But that's another topic.

Joel

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raul A. Gallegos" <raul at asmodean.net>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:31 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press 
releaseConcerningAccessibilityofWeb Site

Basically Amazon has certain types of technologies which they either
outsource or sell to other companies. Target is one, Toys-R-Us is
another one. This is sort of like FedEx phone system is powered by Tell
Me. In other words, Tell Me technology is used for the voice prompt
system in the FedEx phone system.

Somehow I do not think the agreement with Amazon making their site
accessible and the Target law-suit is a coincidence, but i could be
completely on left field here. Legalities is definitely not my specialty.

Joel Deutsch said the following on 1/4/2008 3:02 PM:
> Darryl,
>
> I see the notice "Powered by Amazon.com" But I don't know if "powered" is
> synonymous with "driven," and if so, I don't know what it means. For
> example, does it mean that Target's Web site is using programming designed
> by, and overseen by, the Web design team of Amazon? I'm guessing that 
> might
> just be what you're getting at.
>
> Thanks.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Darrell Shandrow" <nu7i at speakeasy.net>
> To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 11:41 AM
> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press
> releaseConcerningAccessibilityofWeb Site
>
>
> Hello Joel,
>
> Please visit http://www.target.com and find out for yourself, stated very
> near the bottom of the home page. :-)
>
> Darrell Shandrow - Accessibility Evangelist
> Michele Y. Sinnock (sister): 7/20/1957 - 11/29/2007
> Please visit http://BlindWebAccess.com and sign the petition asking Yahoo!
> to make their CAPTCHA accessible!
> Information should be accessible to us without need of translation by
> another person.
> Blind Access Journal blog and podcast: http://www.blindaccessjournal.com
> Check out high quality telecommunications services at http://ld.net/?nu7i
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Joel Deutsch" <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com>
> To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:38 PM
> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press release
> ConcerningAccessibilityofWeb Site
>
>
> Darryl,,
>
> What do you mean by saying that Target is "powered by" amazon?
>
> Thanks.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Darrell Shandrow" <nu7i at speakeasy.net>
> To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 11:20 AM
> Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press release Concerning
> AccessibilityofWeb Site
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Since Target is powered by Amazon, I wonder how all this is ultimately 
> going
> to impact the accessibility of Target's web site and, thus, the lawsuit
> against that company?
>
> Darrell Shandrow - Accessibility Evangelist
> Michele Y. Sinnock (sister): 7/20/1957 - 11/29/2007
> Please visit http://BlindWebAccess.com and sign the petition asking Yahoo!
> to make their CAPTCHA accessible!
> Information should be accessible to us without need of translation by
> another person.
> Blind Access Journal blog and podcast: http://www.blindaccessjournal.com
> Check out high quality telecommunications services at http://ld.net/?nu7i
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "David Andrews" <dandrews at visi.com>
> To: <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; 
> <nfb-announce at nfbnet.org>;
> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>; <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-web at nfbnet.org>;
> <nfb-db at nfbnet.org>; <nosb at nfbnet.org>; <promotion-technology at nfbnet.org>;
> <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>; <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>; <blparent at nfbnet.org>;
> <blindkid at nfbnet.org>; <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 12:16 PM
> Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: Amazon press release Concerning Accessibility 
> ofWeb
> Site
>
>
>
>> ----------
>> Amazon.com Accessibility to be Completed June 30, 2008
>>
>> The National Federation of the Blind and online retailer Amazon,
>> Inc., have announced that work to make Amazon.com fully accessible
>> to blind computer users is to be completed by June 30, 2008.  In
>> March of 2007, Amazon entered into a technology development
>> agreement with the National Federation of the Blind pursuant to
>> which Amazon was to attempt to make Amazon.com fully accessible by
>> December 31, 2007.  Because of the complexity of the task, it was
>> recognized that this was an ambitious goal and that problems might
>> be encountered; accordingly, the agreement provided that Amazon
>> could have a six-month extension, if necessary, to complete work on
>> making its Web site fully accessible to blind computer
>> users.  Amazon's Web site has improved; nonetheless, Amazon
>> recognizes that it is not yet fully accessible.  Amazon has
>> indicated that it will complete the task within the extended period.
>>
>> Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
>> said: "Full and equal access to the Internet is critical in order
>> for the blind to participate fully in today's society.  While
>> Amazon.com is not yet fully accessible, we are pleased with the
>> progress that has been made and we believe that the company remains
>> committed to making the site fully accessible.  We will continue to
>> work with Amazon.com to ensure that the blind can shop for books,
>> music, movies, and the myriad other products available at this
>> leading online retailer with the same ease and convenience as all
>> other shoppers."
>>
>>
>> # # #
>>
>>
>
> David Andrews and white cane Harry.
>
>
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-- 
Raul A. Gallegos -- http://www.asmodean.net
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