Skepticum

The National Federation for the Blind is suing Target Corp. saying that its Web site is inaccessible to blind Internet users. The issue has gotten great support from disability activists and has raised some eyebrows in “open source” circles. 

The issue raises many questions related to the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act to the Internet world, on top of the recent concerns with the Internet becoming a government restricted and legislated environment.

Many websites have willingly changed their code to support web reading by software such as Jaws.  Some moved faster than others. And the more competitive an industry the higher the chance that members of that industry have websites that are blind-accessible.  

However, the reality is that so far a company has not been obligated to do anything online. A company is not obligated to even have a website. Companies have websites because it’s profitable and it’s become a matter of convenience for customers.  So if a company is not obligated to have a website, why would a company be obligated to do any specific thing to their website? Of course, it’s the nice thing to do, and it might be more profitable in the long term.

I have more questions:

If Target is to blame in this case, why isn’t Jaws also to blame for not coming up with a product that also reads images?

If Target has to make their website blind-accessible, can we get porn sites to do the same? Why suing Target and only Target?

I’m sure they’re not the only ones with this problem… so why Target?

Don’t get me wrong—I believe every company should offer the highest level of customer service to their paying customers and that includes having disability-accessible websites.  However, trying to force legal decisions on Internet activities and on an individual basis does not work in an environment where websites are a benefit given to the customers voluntarily by companies.

What is happening here is that people are starting to treat Internet the same way they treat phones or cable programming.  Phones are a convenience we take for granted, and everyone but the homeless has a phone number.  Television is another thing we take for granted but we pay thru our noses for cable or satellite.

But while Internet access is a convenience that we pay for, Internet content such as websites are benefits given willingly and freely by the different entities we interact with online. We don’t live in the early days of telephony or TV where choice was limited to the few players in the marketed, and where grants were needed for the very expensive TDD technology, or where the government intervened to legislate closed captioning. We live in the days of Internet, where content choice is unlimited and borderless.

Competition is fierce and the smart sellers who will know how to serve their customers will rise above their competition. Internet has redefined the concept of a free market economy. We live in the days where the open source movement is strong and is gaining ever growing numbers of supporters. We also live in the days where online experience can make or break a deal, and where word-of-the-mouth (or blog of the mouth) marketing is more powerful than ever.

I’m sure Target will get their code changed and blind-accessible in no time now. Many more will follow.  Good for them.

Is truly suing them for it a solution?

I had promised I wasn’t going to write on my life in this blog, but recently a small chain of odd events got me thinking. I always wondered where Stephen King came up with his inspiration, and I believe I might have found a similar “muse.” I’ve been noticing things that I only experienced reading his books:

–driving behind the same car twice on the same busy Chicago day

–being passed a note on a red-line train on my way home, by someone who thought I was someone else

There is more, but the point I’m trying to make is that recently life has felt surreal. Such oddness can drive one to write a book or question one’s “immortality.” Or write a blog about a freak magnet.

Which brings me to the point of this post: there are small, tiny events that can work as turning points in one’s life, or as inspiration for written works. I’ll admit that it sounds a bit novelistic. There will also always be the questions related to what came first the chicken or the egg–what came first the turning point or the “odd” observation?

Time for some South Park….