[blindlaw] FW: [Fwd: Accessible e-book readers issues]

Michael Nowicki mnowicki4 at icloud.com
Fri Aug 9 00:30:04 UTC 2013



-----Original Message-----
From: Nowicki, Michal Jerzy [mailto:nowicki4 at uic.edu] 
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2013 7:18 PM
To: mnowicki4 at icloud.com
Subject: [Fwd: Accessible e-book readers issues]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Accessible e-book readers issues
From:    "Price, Kevin" <pricek at UIC.EDU>
Date:    Thu, August 8, 2013 4:29 pm
To:      DRCNETWORK at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Students,
Here is some news you may be interested concerning accessible e-book
readers.
Kevin

Amazon, Kobo and Sony are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission
to permanently exempt e-readers from certain federal accessibility laws for
the disabled, arguing that e-readers are barebones devices designed for a
single purpose: reading text.

The petition is interesting because it argues that e-readers' value lies in
the fact that they are inherently limited devices and that any non-reading
functions they include, like experimental web browsers, are "rudimentary"
and not very useful. Amazon, Kobo and Sony say that if they were forced to
comply with FCC regulations and make e-readers fully accessible to people
with disabilities, the essential nature of the devices would change, making
them more like tablets, more expensive and, overall, less useful for their
express purpose.

The FCC is accepting comments on the petition through September 3.

http://gigaom.com/2013/08/07/amazon-kobo-and-sony-petition-fcc-to-exempt-e-r
eaders-from-accessibility-laws/


DRCNETWORK is an email list providing relevant information and resources to
students who have registered with the Disability Resource Center of the
University of Illinois at Chicago.  Please contact Kevin Price,
pricek at uic.edu , if you have any questions, concerns, or content for this
email list.








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