[bookport] Important Web Accessibility Info

From: "LARRY SKUTCHAN" <lskutchan@xxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 08:52:24 -0500

I'm sure you have all seen the word verification schemes for web
services where you must type in the letters and numbers into a text box
to gain access to a particular service.  My latest encounter with this
was one of those "Email This Article" links.  Upon entering the email
address of the person I wanted to send a copy of the article to, I was
asked to verify that I am a uman rather than a spam program by visually
confirming those blasted letters and numbers.

Well' in case you don't know it, this is totally and completely
unaccessible for a blind person.  Those letters and numbers are a
picture, and there is no technology that can tell us what is in that
picture.  Effectively, the human verification factor is really saying a
sighted human must enter these numbers and letters.

There are accessible alternatives to this scheme.  In fact, Microsoft
has one when one sighns up for the passport service.  Google does not,
however, and this is a real problem.

Please help gain google's attention to this very serious issue by going
to www.blindwebaccess.com and signing the petition.  Please tell everone
you know and help open back up what is increasingly becoming an
inaccessible world wide web.

Thanks.

[bookport] Important Web Accessibility Info

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