[thelist] FWD: Internet World - The Dark Side Of Regulation

Jay,

> I just don't understand why so many people are railing against the
> accessability guidelines.  Here are the basics:

	There are two questions in play that have gotten blurred in the heat
of discussion: 1) Are accessibility guidelines reasonable? and 2) should the
Federal government mandate their use?
	From my read, most who answer "no" to question 2 have offered
general support for accessibility guidelines, but argue that some of the
specific guidelines are unreasonable. I think it is perfectly understandable
that people who support accessibility will not agree with every one of the
recommended guidelines.

> <rant> What this comes down to in a sense is that the average home page /
> art site / smaller site is not going to be earmarked for the accessability
> police to come crashing through the door. Only large sites and
disseminators
> of information for the general public's consumption will have to implement
> these right away. But the fact remains: using them makes your site better!

	Actually, the Justice Department has concluded that the ADA applies
to "private" web sites. Taken literally, this means *all* non-government web
sites. Quite frankly, I am amazed at the high percentage of Evolters who are
in favor of the Federal government asserting widespread legal control over
the web, simply because the stated end is "good".

James Aylard
jaylard@equilon.com