From the Baltimore Sun, Associated Press:

Target Corp. has agreed to pay $6 million in damages to plaintiffs who were unable to access its website. The announcement is part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit by the National Federation of the Blind.

In addition, the retailer agreed to make its website more accessible to people with visual impairments. Many blind people screen-reading software, but websites must be made accessible to allow the technology to work properly.

The dispute had centered on an interpretation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires retailers and other public places to make accommodations for people with disabilities. Target had argued that the law only covered physical spaces.

“The NFB is very hopeful that this will be sort of a wake-up call to companies to pay attention to the issue of accessibility and that it is in their best interest to make their Web sites accessible to the blind,” said Chris Danielsen, an NFB spokesman.

… The NFB has called the Internet a critical part of everyday life that should be fully accessible to the country’s 1.3 million legally blind residents.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 28th, 2008 at 9:18 am and is filed under accessibility, business, law, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post