5 ms·

There is a fair amount of case law establishing online businesses as place of public accommodation.

paulddraper 8y ago
If that were true -- and it's not -- online businesses would also be subject to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Such lawsuits have been attempted, but AFAIK without success.
- extra88 8y ago
  Generally they settle those cases but judges think it’s likely enough for them to be places of accommodation to proceed. A website acts as if the ADA doesn’t apply at their peril. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Blind_v._Target_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Bli.... https://www.adatitleiii.com/2012/10/netflix-settles-massachusetts-web-video-captioning-action/ https://www.adatitleiii.com/2012/10/netflix-settles-massachu...
  - PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago
    I wonder how far this will eventually extend. For example, what about websites that have games on them (flash, html5, etc.)? What about websites that host game clients to be downloaded? MUDs could be decently accessible, but most games aren't at all accessible.
    - extra88 8y ago
      Reasonableness is generally a part of determining accommodations for disabilities. For many games, there are no reasonable steps to make them accessible to someone with a sensory or mobility impairment. But there are also reasonable steps that can be taken, like captions for recorded dialog for the hearing impaired or color/pattern alternatives for people with color vision deficiencies (I don't think color vision deficiency meets the legal definition of a disability but it's still something to keep in mind). A site that offers games to download can be very accessible but the games themselves might not be and don't have to be; not every product a store sells has to be usable by every potential customer. That's not a reason to not make the site accessible; e.g. a disabled parent should be able to download a game for their non-disabled child.

If that were true -- and it's not -- online businesses would also be subject to the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Such lawsuits have been attempted, but AFAIK without success.

extra88 8y ago
Generally they settle those cases but judges think it’s likely enough for them to be places of accommodation to proceed. A website acts as if the ADA doesn’t apply at their peril. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Blind_v._Target_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Federation_of_the_Bli.... https://www.adatitleiii.com/2012/10/netflix-settles-massachusetts-web-video-captioning-action/ https://www.adatitleiii.com/2012/10/netflix-settles-massachu...
- PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago
  I wonder how far this will eventually extend. For example, what about websites that have games on them (flash, html5, etc.)? What about websites that host game clients to be downloaded? MUDs could be decently accessible, but most games aren't at all accessible.
  - extra88 8y ago
    Reasonableness is generally a part of determining accommodations for disabilities. For many games, there are no reasonable steps to make them accessible to someone with a sensory or mobility impairment. But there are also reasonable steps that can be taken, like captions for recorded dialog for the hearing impaired or color/pattern alternatives for people with color vision deficiencies (I don't think color vision deficiency meets the legal definition of a disability but it's still something to keep in mind). A site that offers games to download can be very accessible but the games themselves might not be and don't have to be; not every product a store sells has to be usable by every potential customer. That's not a reason to not make the site accessible; e.g. a disabled parent should be able to download a game for their non-disabled child.