Amazon Hates Blind People...
...Or so the federal government believed, until Amazon released the new version of their popular reader last week.
As the always great Byron York reports in The Examiner, the Obama Justice Department didn't like it when a lot of colleges like Princeton and Arizona State wanted to experiment with the Kindle, to see if students could use the device for textbooks. The e-book versions of (very expensive) textbooks would of course be cheaper, but they'd also be more environmentally sensitive. My guess is, it was the latter concern that made the experiment seem so interesting to college administrators.
That's when Thomas Perez, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division stepped in. Not so fast, said Perez. What about the blind? The old version of the Kindle had a text-to-speech function, but the keyboard require eyesight to use. And that, said the Obama DoJ, is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act:
"We acted swiftly to respond to complaints we received about the use of the Amazon Kindle," Perez recently told a House committee. "We must remain vigilant to ensure that as new devices are introduced, people with disabilities are not left behind."
Never mind that this is a device that's been revised and improved pretty constantly since its introduction. Never mind that other devices have text-to-speech functions, and that the marketplace would soon settle the matter. (Which it did: the new Kindle is fully text-to-speech functional.) Never mind that this was an experimental program -- totally voluntary with only a handful of students participating. The Obama Justice Department was firm: until everybody can use the Kindle, nobody can use the Kindle.
What's next on the Civil Rights Division's agenda? According to Byron:
Now, Perez is at work on a far bigger project, one that could eventually declare the Internet a "public accommodation" under the ADA. That could result in a raft of new Justice Department regulations for disabled access to all sorts of Web sites.
Of course, most Web access problems are already being solved by the market, but that won't stop the Justice Department's zealous civil rights enforcer.
Brace yourselves.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
So I clicked on this post and what to my wondering eyes should appear but an ad for the All New Kindle (only $189 with Wi-Fi + 3G - good deal). Mr. Perez will no doubt be incensed to learn that not only does Amazon hate blind people, but its web ads mock them mercilessly.
Jun '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
Ah, our Justice Department. New Black Panthers? Nope. Illegal immigration? Nope. Kindle e-book pilot project? UNLEASH THE HOUNDS OF HELL!
Off topic to Logo or Busy System Admin: It appears that the "Recently Active" sorting function is offline. Tried both IE and Firefox. Friendly FYI.
Jun '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
I wonder, do states publish their automobile drivers manuals in braille? It wouldn't surprise me. Nothing surprises me anymore.
Jul '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
Is illiteracy a disability? Do illiterates have civil rights? I propose the Illiterate's Bill of Rights. Every book, every piece of mail, every job application, every piece of advertising.... should have a chip with text-to-speech functions.
Jun '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
I don't know of any school that doesn't have a disabilities office where blind students, dyslexic students, and the like are offered services to meet whatever special need they may have. Notetakers, readers, tutors, etc.
Only in the Obama world of civil rights would denying technology to the able-bodied be logical. I remember being told by a national park ranger years ago that there were efforts underway to close any access to federal monuments and parks that weren't 100% handicapped accesible. Don't know if that went anywhere or not.
May '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
When I went to school for legal assisting we had to purchase a current-year book of FL Statutes. Well, whaddya know? Every year it's updated, so they can't be re-sold to other students.
There is much more to this, IMO. Cui bono.
Aug '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
Which is harder, ponying up the money for a new Kindle, or having someone at Student Disabilities service rip up your $300, 1200-page Calculus textbook to run it through a text-to-speech or text-to-Braille converter?
Which is harder, having your tutor tap the screen on an old Kindle a few times so that it reads itself to you, or having your tutor read every word to you himself?
Sheesh!
I lived down the hall from a blind girl in college. I can't help thinking she would have considered textbooks on even the old Kindle an improvement compared to all the other inconveniences she had to deal with.
Jul '10
Re: Amazon Hates Blind People...
ADA is without a doubt the worst piece of legislation passed in the past 50 years. At least until Obamacare. Terrible on so many levels. At its core it reflects the horrid elitist certainty that we the people cannot be trusted to take proper care of our disabled brethren. In practice it results in the sort of "can't make it up" absurdity of a blind-friendly Kindle.
Our re-centering as a nation cannot be obtained until we develop the spine to reject feel-good idiocies like ADA.