This might turn out to be very significant regarding disability
accessibility to information technology!
There has been an unpleasant conflict growing between laws guaranteeing
people with disabilities the right to have access to information and the
Digital Millenium Copyright Act which aimed to protect the rights of
authors and publishers. It seemed that this act may seriously undercut
what we thought we had gained in the ADA and other legal provisions. But
here is what looks like good news.
In the original Digital Millenium Copyright Act, (DMCA), the Library of
Congress
has the ability to make exemptions to provisions of this act. Cracking
encryption can be permitted in certain specified situations. They just
announced the first exemptions, and it includes cracking e-books for
accessibility
reasons.
Here's the specific language
Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook
editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by
authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling of
the ebook's read-aloud function and that prevent the enabling of screen
readers to render the text into a specialized format.
For the full story, see http//www.copyright.gov/1201/
***** Check out EASI's November short hour-long web conference clinics:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
and month-long November courses:
Barrier-free E-learning http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm
Accessible Internet Multimedia http://easi.cc/workshops/mmedia.htm
Students and professionals have the same right to access information
technology as does anyone else!
------------------------------
EASI's November, month-long online courses:
Barrier-free E-learning: http://easi.cc/workshops/bfel.htm
Accessible Internet Multimedia: http://easi.cc/workshops/mmedia.htm
(a package of five courses will earn the Certificate in Accessible
Information Technology)
http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
Norman Coombs, Ph.D.
CEO EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information)
22196 Caminito Tasquillo
Laguna Hills CA 92653
home: (949) 855-4852
Cell: (949) 922-5992
E-mail: [log in to unmask]http://www.rit.edu/~nrcgsh
