Politech: FC: Judge rules Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't cover web

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Decision is here:
http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/viewer/viewer.asp?file=/cases/opinions/02CV21734d24.pdf

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http://news.com.com/2100-1023-962761.html

   Judge: Disabilities Act doesn't cover Web
   By Declan McCullagh
   October 21, 2002, 11:17 AM PT

   A federal judge ruled Friday that Southwest Airlines does not have to
   revamp its Web site to make it more accessible to the blind.

   In the first case of its kind, U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz said
   the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies only to physical
   spaces such as restaurants and movie theaters and not to the Internet.

   "To expand the ADA to cover 'virtual' spaces would be to create new
   rights without well-defined standards," Seitz wrote in a 12-page
   opinion dismissing the case. "The plain and unambiguous language of
   the statute and relevant regulations does not include Internet Web
   sites."

   [...]




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