[nfb-talk] Captcha, (I've had enough!)

[John Heim]

A few months ago, the Department of Justice said that the ADA applies to web 
sites. This is a big deal. Since the Department of Justice is responsible 
for enforcing laws like the ADA, if the Department of Justice says the ADA 
applies to web sites, then it does.  A business would have to go to court to 
show that the DOJ overstepped its bounds in making that determination. But 
the burden of proof would be on them. Well, anyway, the point is that 
CAPTCHAs are now illegal.

IMO, this is one of the toughest issues we face. My own boss came to me 
yesterday wanting to put a captcha on our web site. I had to talk really 
long to get her to not do it. It was a really tough sell and I only got her 
to agree on a provisional basis. If an alternate solution I came up with 
doesn't work, she will probably insist on using the captcha. Her point is 
that the page we want to protect simply isn't visited very often by blind 
people. Its not worth the trouble to make it accessible.

I've pointed out that its a matter of principle. I've even mentioned what a 
bitter thing it would be for me to install captcha software. I've pointed 
out our legal responsibilities. All this makes little to no difference. All 
that really matters is that captchas work. Honestly, I was sitting there 
thinking of trying to write software to break captchas and sending it to 
every spammer I can find.

By the way, my boss is not a bad person by any means. She is very open 
minded. I just think that if you're not blind, you don't see what the 
problem is.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joshua Lester" <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu>
To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 10:25 PM
Subject: [nfb-talk] Captcha, (I've had enough!)


> Hi, it's Joshua Lester.
> I've posted this on the Faith Talk list, and the Music list, but I'm
> not having any success.
> I've just thought of a question.
> I'd like everyone's feedback.
> How can we better influence the Webmasters of their sites, to make
> more accessible contact forms?
> How can they make them, where they can differentiate, between Jaws, and a 
> Robot?
> I want them to make the captcha, where Jaws can catch it, and read it to 
> us.
> What can we do?
> Thanks for your ideas.
> This is for all Websites.
> Blessings, Joshua
>
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