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Electronic Responsibility

One of my personal kinks is the belief in freedom tempered with responsibility. The last few opinions have dealt with the blueovalnews.com affair.

Here's a little something that made my day.

I use Webtrends®^[1] as a site analysis tool for my site and a number of my clients.

Robert,
Last week I posted the opinion on your victory, I received 757 hits on that page. A little over a hundred hits a day. [bestill my racing heart]

Further down in the report is the Top Users Section, for that week in First, Third and Fourth were the following domains:

1. 1 - 136.1.1.156 153
2. 2 - 204.245.29.9
3. 3 - 136.1.1.101
4. 4 - 136.1.1.19 90

and tracing the I.P numbers, guess what I found?

===============ARIN RECORD===================
Ford Motor Company (NETBLK-FORD-NETS)
   P.O. Box 2053
   Dearborn, MI 48121-2053
   Netname: FORD-NETS
   Netblock: 136.1.0.0 - 136.140.0.0
   Coordinator:
      Ignasiak, Todd J. [Telecomm. Analyst]  (TJI-ARIN)  tignasia@FORD.COM
      (313) 337-6871 (FAX) (313) 845-2491 (FAX) (313) 845-2491
   Domain System inverse mapping provided by:
   DNS003.FORD.COM  198.111.80.21
   WWWBAK.FORD.COM  198.108.89.225
   Record last updated on 21-Oct-98.
   Database last updated on 13-Sep-99 18:42:01 EDT.
======================END RECORD=======================

So, it looks like W.C. or Jac took my advice, and sent the Marketing, Legal, Human Resource and the Webmasters over, and maybe I'll get a check in the Mail ;-))

BTW Robert, you were the top referring site. thanks for the hits..........

Electronic Responsibility

The blueoval affair, demonstrates the power of the World Wide Web. The Courts decision was posted to the web within Hours of being handed down. 5 years ago, faxing this, would have been the the state of the art. But they would still be faxing it.

Section 508 WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT OF 1998

As most of you know, I belong to the Web Standards Project^[3].

I want to build sites one time, without having dozens of browsers on my machines, just to check that the code will render the same, regardless of what browser you are using.
I want my websites to be accessable to all.
I would like to stop compromising on how little of the Current Standards are supported by the major browsers, and enable the feature sets available.
I am not alone here. There are thousands of supporters for Web Standards.

What the Americans with Disabilities Act did for the Brick and Mortar workplace,
Section 508 is going to do for the Web.
This is not new information.

9/9/96: ADA Accessibility Requirements Apply to Internet Web Pages

"The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered entities to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities, unless doing so would result in a fundamental alteration to the program or service or in an undue burden. See 28 C.F.R. 36.303; 28 C.F.R. 35.160. Auxiliary aids include taped texts, Brailled materials, large print materials, captioning and other methods of making audio and visual media available to people with disabilities."
"The policy ruling states that ADA Titles II and III require State and local governments and the business sector to provide effective communication whenever they communicate through the Internet. The effective communication rule applies to covered entities using the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods or services since they must be prepared to offer those communications via an accessible medium."

While we are waiting for the next Mozilla build, and Redmond to build a standards compliant browser, here in the U.S, Section 508 is ticking...............

Its not just a good idea, it's the Law!

United States Government websites, will have to comply with the provisions of this section, in regards to alternative display options for Individuals with Disabilities.

The pumpkin date for Government Websites, 18 months to the day that the legislation was enacted, is Feb. 7, 2000.

As I understand it,
Starting Aug. 8, next year, any individual anywhere in the U.S. will be able bring suit under Section 508 against offending Web sites operated by a government agency.

Wiggle Room or the Escape Clause

"(4) ACQUISITION PLANNING.--In the event that a Federal department or agency determines that compliance with the standards issued by the Access Board under paragraph (2) relating to procurement imposes an undue burden, the documentation by the department or agency supporting the procurement shall explain why compliance creates an undue burden."

I can already see agencies using this to generate reports on why they seem to have a problem with compliance. Not on My tax dollar!

Government Webmasters Take Note!
Coding a website to the Standards is not Voodoo, Rocket Science, or (insert your favorite "Disguising Motion as Activity Word" Here___________)

Yep! It's Gonna be your day in the Barrel.

The short answer is;
If it does not Validate^[6] It's probably not Accessable.^[7]

• Section 508 Homepage
• Web Page Accessibility Checklist

Blue Oval News.Com is owned by Warner Robert Publications
_{Ford is a registered trademark of the Ford Motor Company}

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