[gui-talk] Blind Massachusetts Residents Unable to Access EmergencyInformation

[Doug Lee]

First, that assumes inaccurately that radios and tv's are available in
as many places as cell phones.  Second and I suspect more important
though, this seems to me to be a more than usually direct strike at
making our problems with captchas more well recognized and addressed.
Surely no one on this list would argue that we have no significant
problems with captchas these days.

I regard the world of legal battles a strange one indeed, because
sometimes one seems to have to fire a shot at one thing to effect
another.  That said though, and with the admission that I'm only
guessing, I think that's probably what's really going on here.

On Tue, Dec 07, 2010 at 07:10:31AM -0500, Gerald Levy wrote:

This is a bunch of nonsense.  Blind Mass. residents can just turn on
their radios or TV's like everyone else to obtain emergency
information.  Another example of creating an issue where none exists.

Gerald


----- Original Message ----- From: "Freeh, Jessica (by way of David
Andrews <dandrews at visi.com>)" <JFreeh at nfb.org>
To: <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2010 11:19 PM
Subject: [gui-talk] Blind Massachusetts Residents Unable to Access
EmergencyInformation


>
>
>
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
>CONTACT:
>
>Mika Pyyhkala
>
>National Board member
>
>President, NFB of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Massachusetts
>
>(617) 202-3497
>
>pyyhkala at gmail.com
>
>
>
>
>
>Blind Massachusetts Residents
>Unable to Access Emergency Information
>
>
>
>
>
>Contractor Everbridge Blocks Blind Subscribers
> from Emergency Alert Systems
>
>
>
>Boston, Massachusetts (December 6, 2010): The National Federation of
>the Blind of Massachusetts (NFB of MA) is working to resolve an
>emergency issue with the City of Boston and one of its contractors,
>Everbridge.  The city contracts with Everbridge to provide a
>subscription service whereby residents can receive emergency alerts
>by telephone, text message, or e-mail, but blind residents cannot
>access the service because registering involves a visual captcha.
>Captchas are automated tests used to tell humans and computers
>apart, often through the use of distorted letters that must be
>retyped by the person attempting to register for an online service.
>Since blind people cannot respond to visual-only captchas, which
>cannot be read by screen access software used by the blind, many
>entities provide an audio alternative or some other form of captcha,
>such as a simple logic question.  Everbridge's system provides no
>such alternative.
>
>
>
>NFB of MA President Mika Pyyhkala has been unable to reach the
>company since discovering the problem on November 29, despite
>repeated attempts at contact through its Twitter and Facebook
>accounts, e-mail addresses, and telephone customer service system,
>as well as a telephone call to the office of its CEO.
>
>
>
>Mika Pyyhkala, president of the National Federation of the Blind of
>Massachusetts, said: "Blind people need timely access to information
>in emergency situations, just like everyone else.  Clearly, however,
>Everbridge did not give this basic need any consideration when it
>designed its system; nor did the cities of Boston, Waltham, and
>Winchester consider the needs of their blind citizens during their
>procurement processes.  The sluggish response by Everbridge and the
>City of Boston to this emergency is deplorable given that it would
>be very easy for Everbridge to fix this problem or for the city to
>procure this service from a company that does not use a visual
>captcha as the sole means of allowing users to register. The
>Everbridge accessibility issue represents a wake-up call for every
>CIO and CTO regarding technology, civil rights, and timely
>communication with stakeholders."
>
>
>
>
>
>###
>
>
>
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-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
SSB BART Group           doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do
what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with
them while they do it."--Theodore Roosevelt