[NFBSATX] Fwd: [InternetMail]Captcha Accessibility and Alternatives

Harry Staley hstaley at nfbtx.org
Sat Sep 18 20:10:41 UTC 2021


Good afternoon;

Please see below for more details on the CPS response. More information to come.

Harry Staley
330-718-1876
Hstaley at nfbtx.org

NFB San Antonio Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NatlFederationOfTheBlindSATX/

NFB San Antonio Groupme:
https://groupme.com/join_group/38340408/IUF3ab

> Begin forwarded message:
> 
> From: "Wycoff, Veronica R." <VRWycoff at CPSEnergy.com>
> Subject: RE: [InternetMail]Captcha Accessibility and Alternatives
> Date: September 7, 2021 at 4:07:43 PM CDT
> To: Harry Staley <hstaley at nfbtx.org>
> Cc: Norma Crosby <ncrosby at nfbtx.org>, Wendy Walker <wenintex at gmail.com>, "Hardwick, DeAnna" <DHardwick at cpsenergy.com>, "Singh, Jatinder" <jsingh2 at CPSEnergy.com>
> 
> Mr. Staley,
>  
> We appreciate you taking the time to propose potential solutions to the accessibility challenges you and others may have faced with our website. As part of our People First philosophy, CPS Energy is actively focused on improving experience throughout its website and welcomes any feedback along the way.  
>  
> Currently, we are approaching experience concerns with captcha in two ways:
>  
> •            Near Term – In many areas, we have upgraded to audio-accessible reCAPTCHA, and we will continue that effort wherever feasible. For other areas where such an upgrade is not feasible, customers will find in the coming weeks options to either phone or email us if they experience issues with captcha. Specifically, customers will be able to call us at 210-353-6023 or email us at feedback at cpsenergy.com <mailto:feedback at cpsenergy.com>, and our team will be ready to help.
>  
> •            Long Term – We are in the process of evaluating updated platforms to use throughout our website. Accessible captcha is a key requirement of our platform evaluation. We expect our evaluation and eventual upgrade to occur over the next 12 to 24 months. We expect this upgrade will deliver a better overall experience.
>  
> Thank you for sharing your background as a technology professional and understanding that accessibility improvements can take time to resolve. We are committed to implementing the best possible solutions as securely and promptly as possible to address the needs of  all our customers. 
>  
> Should you have any additional feedback or suggestions, please do not hesitate to let us know.
>  
> Veronica Wycoff
> ADA Coordinator
> CPS Energy | 500 McCullough San Antonio, Texas 78215 | MD:  RT0201
>  
> From: Harry Staley <hstaley at nfbtx.org <mailto:hstaley at nfbtx.org>> 
> Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2021 1:10 PM
> To: Wycoff, Veronica R. <VRWycoff at CPSEnergy.com <mailto:VRWycoff at CPSEnergy.com>>
> Cc: Norma Crosby <ncrosby at nfbtx.org <mailto:ncrosby at nfbtx.org>>; Wendy Walker <wenintex at gmail.com <mailto:wenintex at gmail.com>>; jsingh at cpsenergy.com <mailto:jsingh at cpsenergy.com>; Hardwick, DeAnna <DHardwick at cpsenergy.com <mailto:DHardwick at cpsenergy.com>>
> Subject: [InternetMail]Captcha Accessibility and Alternatives
>  
> EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and know the content is safe.
>  
> Good afternoon;
>  
> Ms. Wendy Walker has shared with me a recent email concerning a critical accessibility issue that affects Blind/Deaf Blind CPS customers in that your website uses visual captchas on it. The W3CAG has published the following article on accessible alternative to Captchas. One alternative would be to allow users to opt into multi factor authentication. This would increase the security posture of your public facing websites and also provide an accessible means for Blind/Deaf Blind customers to access your website.
> https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Captcha_Alternatives_and_thoughts <https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Captcha_Alternatives_and_thoughts>
>  
> As someone who has taken part in numerous Hackathons sponsored by CPS I know that your organization has a commitment to serving the community. As a technology professional I understand that it may take time to implement a solution that will work for your customers, but please understand that this represents an impassible barrier for those in my community and is critical to our ability to use your site and even pay for your services.
>  
> To keep everyone in the loop who are aware of this issue I have cc’d DeAnna Hardwick in Customer Solutions, Jay Singh in IT, and Ms. Norma Crosby of the NFB of Texas for their situational awareness.
>  
> Harry Staley
> National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science
>  
> 330-718-1876
> Hstaley at nfbtx.org <mailto:Hstaley at nfbtx.org>
>  
> Linkedin:
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrystaley/ <https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrystaley/>
>  
> NFB San Antonio Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/NatlFederationOfTheBlindSATX/ <https://www.facebook.com/NatlFederationOfTheBlindSATX/>
>  
> NFB San Antonio Groupme:
> https://groupme.com/join_group/38340408/IUF3ab <https://groupme.com/join_group/38340408/IUF3ab>
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