Those who follow my posts will probably know that I use Kaspersky
Antivirus as my security software of choice. While I realize that the
program's level of accessibility could certainly be improved, it was
and, for me, still is accessible enough to the point where I can perform
the tasks which I need to perform. You can read my review of the
product, from the perspective of an NVDA user, at
https://davidgoldfield.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/kaspersky-antivirus-a-review-for-screen-reader-users/
When I first began hearing of Kaspersky's unwillingness to not only
commit to accessibility but that they had practically admitted that they
had no such commitment I was incredulous. I had hoped that this was just
an assumption on the part of one user. However, while I don't know Merv
and Robin personally I have always found their posts to be well-written
as well as accurate and, when I read the response from Kaspersky which
was submitted to Robin, I was shocked and realized that we definitely
have a serious problem.
To that end, I tweeted the following message to @kl_support, Kaspersky's
support account.
@kl_support I'm hearing rumors that Kaspersky is not committing to
accessibility in 2018 in your products. Is this true?
from DavidGoldfield | Apr 01 7:14 pm | via Easy Chirp
I soon received the following reply from KL_support.
@DavidGoldfield Most likely you're right. Let us specify it from our
developers team. We hope to implement it in later versions or patches.
from kl_support | Apr 02 3:50 am | Responding | via Freshdesk
There are some conclusions I can make as to the problems we're facing,
along with several solutions which I will be aggressively pursuing.
First, let's talk about the actual problems. The person or persons
responding at the kl_support Twitter account are not engineers,
developers or designers. They likely don't understand what accessibility
actually means and therefore don't grasp the ramifications as to the
consequences of a program being inaccessible to screen readers. This
person or group of persons likely does not understand that the lack of
accessibility means that a group of computer users will be locked out
from performing functions which are absolutely essential to maintaining
the security of their computers. Let's also not forget that this group
of users are customers who actually paid for the product. At least one
customer who recently purchased their security suite is now pursuing a
refund, due to the decline in the product's accessibility, something
which is regrettable but which is perfectly reasonable. This customer
will most likely get the refund which is being sought, which no company
wants.
The first step among many that I plan to take is to send a more detailed
message to @kl_support, attempting to explain how blind people access
computers with screen readers and how the lack of accessibility in some
Kaspersky products has a negative impact on their overall experience. In
addition to having a negative impact on users, I will also explain how
this lack of accessibility can have a negative impact on the company's
business, since customers will be unwilling to pay for a program they
cannot actually use. I will also point out that at least one customer,
who recently purchased one of their suites, is now pursuing a refund.
This explanation will need to be done in a manner that is very clear and
to the point as I also believe that some of the individuals responding
via @kl_support do not speak English as their primary language and so I
will need to take this into consideration when crafting a response.
My prediction is that this first step will yield very little in the way
of positive results. My next step will be to compose a more detailed
response to Kaspersky regarding the lack of accessibility in the form of
an open letter, which I plan to distribute via a variety of channels.
This open letter will provide all of the details and documentation I can
provide regarding the problems we are having with Kaspersky, our tweets
and messages to them along with any responses we have received from
them. This open letter, first and foremost, will be posted to my blog.
In addition, I plan to ensure that I have a link to this post on
Twitter, my main LinkedIn feed, appropriate LinkedIn groups, relevant
Facebook groups and other tech-related mailing lists. While I only have
248 followers on Twitter, I have over 3100 connections on LinkedIn and,
before I submit this post, I will attempt to connect to people who are
higher up in the chain at Kaspersky. Additionally, I will submit this
open letter to at least one of the two consumer advocacy organizations
such as ACB or NFB and request their assistance. I'm also considering
contacting a high-profile podcaster such as Jonathan Mosen to see if he
might be willing to cover this story on his Blind Side podcast. Years
ago, I would have enjoyed being a guest on anybody's podcast to talk
about anything. Those days are long gone and I no longer crave any such
attention or publicity and I no longer enjoy public speaking but
desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.
To that end, I am requesting the following assistance. If people are
experiencing problems with a Kaspersky product, I would ask that you
kindly send me documentation with as many details about the problem as
you can provide. Which Kaspersky product (Kaspersky Antivirus 2016,
Kaspersky Internet Security 2017, etc.), which version of the product is
currently installed? Which screen reader and what version? What specific
issues do you have? Please be as specific as you can. Please also
specify as to whether I may mention your name or do you wish to be
referred to as "one user reports that ..."
If you have copies of any relevant correspondence with Kaspersky
regarding these issues and if you are comfortable in having these emails
or tweets published in this open letter, please provide this to me as
well. If you would like the correspondence to be published but if you
would like your name omitted from the open letter, please specify this
as well and I can substitute your name or Twitter handle with dashes,
such as @-----.
If any of you are pursuing a refund with Kaspersky due to these issues
and are now wondering if you should continue to do so or just wait for a
possible resolution, my prediction is that, while we will win this
battle, we will not do so quickly. When all has been said and done, I
believe that Kaspersky will make accessibility in their products a
higher priority. However, this will take time and you are therefore
totally justified if you would like to continue pursuing a refund and
begin using an alternative product. In order to ensure that this open
letter is properly documented, this will take hours of work on my part.
I work full-time during the week and so weekends are the only block of
time which I have to devote to this issue, along with performing
essential household chores, spending quality time with my family and
just having some much-needed downtime. Additionally, the weekend of
April 14-16 is the weekend of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter
where I engage in very little online activity. Therefore, it is
reasonable to assume that I may not complete this document until the end
of April but I can promise you that it will be completed.
You are free to leave any messages regarding this topic on the av-a11y
mailing list, which I established to discuss the topic of antivirus and
antimalware accessibility with screen readers. You can subscribe to this
list by sending an email to
av-a11y-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
in the subject type the word
subscribe
and send the message.
Thank you for your support and for your patience as we slowly move
forward to make the Kaspersky products more accessible for everyone,
including screen reader users!
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist Feel free to visit my
Web site WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
