Website owners face prosecution

[ReDOcToBeR]

Difficult subject this.

I do agree that goverment sites and large e-commerce sites could be more disable friendly but to expect all and everyone to follow this rule is just plain dumb.

I do various jobs for schools and let me tell yer, alot of them are NOT disable friendly i;e no lifts ramps etc.

The reason which is harsh I know is that it is not cost effective to the local council.
Now you'd think them of all peeps would be throwing money at schools to comply with various diability laws but they just ignore it.

I think the same will happen to internet sites as well unless some high profile sites are taken to court.

I'm not against disabled people at all but there is only so far companies and individuals are willing to go to accomadate them.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[Bunjiweb]

seriously, if i went blind, i wouldnt spend all day inside on the internet, i'd make the most of the other things i can do without complaining and trying to prosecute people because i can't view their website.....

I do agree as RedOctober said... government sites and large e-commerce sites should be more friendly to disabled people... i just can't understand why people would want to fine/prosecute/whatever individuals for not having a website that is friendly to the disabled.

Ben

[fondie]

this is rediculous. i don't believe any privately run and owned service is a right, i don't add text tags because i can't be bothered to look up what they are or how to use them anf text instead of pictures would defeat the whole point of the site, i can't be bothered or don't have the time to make my website compatible with all browsers / resolutions, i don't provide it in 100 different because i don't have the language skill, i don't want to make the reading age of my site 3, i don't want to make the text inches tall for those with a visual impairment because it would make my site ugly and hard to read. you could spend years making even the simplist site acessible to everyone, but even then you are probably discriminting against those people who don't have a computer, so you best produce some paper versions too, and some cd versions, some cassetes as well, probably best just go round visiting everyone on the planet armed with your babelfish, and just for a site that has a couple of pictures of your goldfish on! it's not that i don't want my site accessible to everyone, but i'd rather be down the pub than doing it, and i feel that is MY right!

there is an alternative to everyone making their site more friendly disabled users, more intelligent, more advanced software could be written to decode sites for disabled users! prehaps some poor company could be forced to write it under legal threat as that seems to be the easist way of getting things done!

[Swafe]

Originally posted by Bunjiweb
what a crock of ....

So we're meant to spend god knows how much updating a site so it can cope with the blind??? I'm sorry but if someone tried to prosecute me for this i'd just laugh in their face.

No offence WHATSOEVER to blind people. but trying to take individuals / companies to court because there website isnt friendly to disabled people is simply laughable.

THE INTERNET IS A PRIVILAGE NOT A RIGHT!

Ben :|

agreed, im not changing my sites for the blind

if there blind, they cant see it ! whats the big f*ckin deal!?

[perryh73]

I think youl find that things lke the internet are a right or near as dammit for other disabled groups e.g. people who CANT get out much, disabled children, etc.

Why shouldnt a perfectly healthy but blind child or adult have the right to use what I am using right now?

The same right as us my friend.

I would have thought it would be better to turn it into a challenge to make your site viewable by everyone then you could say "I helped someone."

I am gonna look at doing meh site now as I know my Great Aunty in law has a pc but is partially sited and loves hearing how out daughter is doing but I know descriptions of the images if read out on the pc will make her so happy.

Perry.

Perry.

[fondie]

no one has the right to view my site. do they?

[Swafe]

im not changing my site, if they cant see it, its there problem, this law it a load of bull*hit

pollical correctness gone insane, next theyll be letting deaf and blind people into cinemas and demanding to have the braile scripts or some BS

[Arien]

I see everyones point but like someone said earlier.. the internet is a privaledge (sp.) not a right so it's up to the webmaster of the site to decide wether he/she wants to make their site usable for blind people.. but i do not agree that we should be required by law to make this so.. it's like making visual aids for deaf people saying "boom" etc on flash anims.

This is in no way being rude to deaf/blind/disabled people, i admire disabled people as some have to change their entire life around because of it and that can't be easy.

Also the comment earlier from Cocopops about you presuming Bunji thought highstreet stores shouldn't have facilities for disavled people, i think that was a stupid comment really.. i'm not sure how you got from websites for blind people to highstreets store with lifts and ramps etc as they are requirements for a business building.

Sorry if this post seems i bit fuddled.. i was doing 4 things at once.

[Stoo]

IIRC even stores and hotels etc don't have a legal requirement to make their premises 100% disabled friendly.

I can't see how this law can possibly work, and to be honest it's going to defeat the purpose if you follow things through..

Person A takes person B to court because they can't navigate person B's site properly, person B can't afford the legal costs etc so has to shut the site down because of the litigation and other costs. Now nobody can view the site.. Well, er, done.

I can see where this might apply with public service companies, but blanket legislation like this will only prove to do more harm than good. It seems like another case of the goverment passing laws without fully understanding all the issues involved, just like the recent one requiring ISP's to keep detailed records of everything everyone does on the internet for at least 12 months.

[spikegifted]

This sounds like a lot of BS to me...

It is not the website that should be 'disabled friendly'... Let's run down what kind of things are considered 'disabilities' and the problems with site navigation:
impairments affecting upper limbs - that's the problems with input devices, not the sites
impairments affecting lower limbs - that's not a problem with site navigation
impairments affecting sight - you need special equipment to use the PC anyway, not the sites
impairments with hearing - sight is the primary feedback of the PC
impairments to mental health - if they can interface with a PC, they should be fine

The only exception is color blindness. However, AFAIK, color blindness is not classified as a disability.

So, what are we looking at here? We have a piece of legislation what makes a lot of fuss about the rights of a specific group of people (people with disability), but in actual fact does absolutely nothing! Why don't politicians and bureaucrats spend more time on things that actually matter?