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

Aardvark,

> despite what the justice dept. claims, case law will drive that de 
> facto standard... i try my best to make everything i build 
> accessible, but even if i didn't, i don't think i have to 
> worry about the 
> US government coming down on my personal web site... it won't 
> stand up...

While I agree that it is unlikely that the ADA will be enforced against
personal, private web sites, I think corporations should have the same right
to make thoughtless, foolish decisions (e.g., pooh-pooh accessibility) as
any individual, even if I disagree with them. It shouldn't be the
government's role to make everyone play nice. (I do agree that it is
appropriate to mandate accessibility for government sites, however.)

> wow... i didn't hear anyone say they were in favor of *government* 
> control... quite the opposite, that we tend to be in favor of the W3C 
> developing specs and guidelines (WAI), and our adopting them to 
> comply with the DTD, the spec, and good karma... yes, we 
> understand that the ADA will apply to government sites ( -funded 
> sites, etc) and that we will be prepared to support it, but that 
> doesn't mean we want the government to make it the law...

	I hope you're right. But I think a careful reading of this thread
will show that many people who posted view government regulation of
corporate web sites as necessary in order to achieve accessibility. Some
seem to consider it a "necessary evil", but acceptable to reach an otherwise
unreachable, worthwhile end.

James Aylard
jaylard@equilon.com