Posted on 08/24/2010 12:51:41 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote
Why did feds claim Kindle violates civil rights? By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent August 3, 2010 _________________________________________________________
The Justice Department threatened several universities with legal action because they took part in an experimental program to allow students to use the Amazon Kindle for textbooks. (AP)
Did you know the Justice Department threatened several universities with legal action because they took part in an experimental program to allow students to use the Amazon Kindle for textbooks?
Last year, the schools -- among them Princeton, Arizona State and Case Western Reserve -- wanted to know if e-book readers would be more convenient and less costly than traditional textbooks. The environmentally conscious educators also wanted to reduce the huge amount of paper students use to print files from their laptops.
It seemed like a promising idea until the universities got a letter from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, now under an aggressive new chief, Thomas Perez, telling them they were under investigation for possible violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
From its introduction in 2007, the Kindle has drawn criticism from the National Federation of the Blind and other activist groups. While the Kindle's text-to-speech feature could read a book aloud, its menu functions required sight to operate. "If you could get a sighted person to fire up the device and start reading the book to you, that's fine," says Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the federation. "But other than that, there was really no way to use it."
In May 2009, Amazon announced the pilot program, under which it would provide Kindle DX readers to a few universities. It wasn't a huge deal; Princeton's plan, for example, involved three courses and a total of 51 students, and only in the fall semester of that year. University spokeswoman Emily Aronson says the program was voluntary and students could opt out of using the Kindle. "There were no students with a visual impairment who had registered for the three classes," says Aronson.
Nevertheless, in June 2009, the federation filed a complaint with the Justice Department, accusing the schools of violating the ADA. Perez and his team went to work.
"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."
The Civil Rights Division informed the schools they were under investigation. In subsequent talks, the Justice Department demanded the universities stop distributing the Kindle; if blind students couldn't use the device, then nobody could. The Federation made the same demand in a separate lawsuit against Arizona State.
It's an approach that bothers some civil rights experts. "As a blind person, I would never want to be associated with any movement that punished sighted students, particularly for nothing they had ever done," says Russell Redenbaugh, a California investor who lost his sight in a childhood accident and later served for 15 years on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. "It's a gross injustice to disadvantage one group, and it's bad policy that breeds resentment, not compassion."
Some officials at the schools were puzzled. Given the speed of technological development and the reality of competition among technology companies -- Apple products were already fully text-to-speech capable -- wasn't this a problem the market would solve?
That's not Perez's way. To him, keeping the Kindle out of sighted students' hands underscored "the importance of full and equal educational opportunities for everyone."
In early 2010, after most of the courses were over, the Justice Department reached agreement with the schools, and the federation settled with Arizona State. The schools denied violating the ADA but agreed that until the Kindle was fully accessible, nobody would use it.
One obvious solution to the problem, of course, was to fix the Kindle. Early on, Amazon told federation officials it would apply text-to-speech technology to the Kindle's menu and function keys. And sure enough, last week the company announced a new generation of Kindles that are fully accessible to the blind. While the Justice Department was making demands, and Perez was making speeches, the market was working.
But as Amazon was unveiling the new Kindle last week, Perez was sending a letter to educators warning them they must use technology "in a manner that is permissible under federal law."
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.
Byron York, The Examiner's chief political correspondent, can be contacted at byork@washingtonexaminer.com. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday, and his stories and blog posts appears on ExaminerPolitics.com.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Why-did-feds-claim-Kindle-violates-civil-rights_-1006723-99801389.html#ixzz0xYQGJwXg
WWWTTHH?????
The feeling I have so often since Obama got in...is this what it's like being on acid?
There are no words left for my feelings about Obama, who works for him, who is related to him, who voted for him, and who still supports him.
I would get banned for life here if I really spoke my mind.
The government trying to shut down technologies.
Those paper books can still be purchased and are just as worthless for the blind.
The government is being used against the American people for the benefit of a few connected interests.
There is big money in Barnes and Nobles' college textbook distribution monopoly.
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list (Obama list). This is a high volume list
At the expense of the students of course.
Unreal.
FFFUUUBBBOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t believe this story is not making more headline news.
They should tell him to go to hell.
Perez was the same %^&& who stopped the Black Panther lawsuit remember?
Maine is the only state to provide laptops to every public school student......a big win for the Mac maker and a major expansion of the state’s technology initiative for middle and high school students.
The massive order stems from the state Department of Education’s decision to expand the Maine Learning Technology Initiative into all public high schools. Maine has been providing Apple MacBooks to middle school students and faculty under the MLTI since 2002.
Apple had to compete with other computer makers for the first and the latest contracts.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218102131
Let's see what they do now with the ADA lawsuits. Text books are big business and kindle will kill the hugely profitable marketplace.
I sure do.
This whole thing sounds like a total shakedown for trial lawyers to sue under the ADA.
Kindles promote reading, making tens of thousands of free books easily accessible. Those books include history and political books which are far more accurate than the marxist swill the public schools and liberal universities impose on students.
The marxist left does NOT want all those books rediscovered.
But Americans do.
If they can’t use a Kindle, they can’t use a book. Are books also in conflict with ADA?
If they need to get a book in Braille either way, then there is no harm whatsoever.
To be consistent the feds would have to go after any school that uses Smart Boards, DVDs,Computer projectors,or even old fashioned slide and film strip projectors. While we’re at it, let’s eliminate TV and motion pictures. And how about art appreciation courses? I could go on, but someone in DC may read this and get ideas.
As you know, the “Student Loan Program” was taken over by the Obama Admn. — now they will be able to tell all Americans (particularly white Americans) where they can and cannot attend college is they expect to do so using Federal Student Loans.
As you know, the “Student Loan Program” was taken over by the Obama Admn. — now they will be able to tell all Americans (particularly white Americans) where they can and cannot attend college if they expect to do so using Federal Student Loans.
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