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More information from the RNIB re: the ongoing legal action

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Home / News & Resources / More information from the RNIB re: the ongoing legal action

Reply with quote The RNIB legal action is starting to get very interesting. Here’s a story from August 22nd.

http://www.netimperative.com/… (the link seems to be flaky)
Only two companies are facing legal action, and they cannot be named because of a confidentiality agreement.
There is no October 2004 deadline for websites -the October 2004 deadline refers to the coming into force of section 22 (2)(a) – (c) of the DDA which refers to physical premises, not services and communication.

I’ve commented on the article on my blog:
http://www.isolani.co.uk/…
Reply with quote I’m scratching my head trying to figure the reason for the confidentiality agreement that grants the companies anonymity.

Surely the punishment is the naming and shaming. The fine will probably be tantamount to a slap on the wrists.
Reply with quote It does seem silly that 2 companies have had legal action taken against them in reference to accessibility yet they can’t be named. What sort of signal does that send out to the rest of the web world?

If you aren’t accessible you might be taken to court and get a slap on the wrist fine but don’t worry, you won’t be named so not many will be aware of it.

If they were named and shamed there would be the tangiable idea that if a sites not as accessible at it should be, you could get some nasty bad press.

Defeats half the idea of allowing legal action to be taken in the first place I think.
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Adrian
Blogging :: Cre8asite Forums
Reply with quote
Quote:
Defeats half the idea of allowing legal action to be taken in the first place I think.


At least, if not a lot more. Perhaps they will be named if found guilty.
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Nigel Peck / MIS Web Design
Reply with quote
the article wrote:
it revealed that both companies have been held accountable


Tends to suggest its already been decided?
_________________
Adrian
Blogging :: Cre8asite Forums
Reply with quote I don’t agree that the companies should be named and shamed unless they have been found guilty. I think the RNIB have played this right. As these are new cases, there’s no reason to assume the RNIB are taking action against companies that do have accessible websites. Especially considering the state of many websites. The point is, unless they’re found guilty, they shouldn’t have to go through the process of being dragged through the press. Similarly, I would hope that companies with inaccessible websites are given an opportunity to correct the mistakes before being prosecuted. I’m aware that ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law, but we all know there is an incredible amount of ignorance when it comes to the Web.

Once the court action is over, the information will be widely available if they’re found guilty. As they’re the first cases in the UK, it will be all over the press.
Reply with quote
gez wrote:
I don’t agree that the companies should be named and shamed unless they have been found guilty. I think the RNIB have played this right.


I agree with you here. Innocent until proven guilty. If they are found guilty then they’ll get a savaging anyway. I’d expect their identities to come out as part of the public record in the due process of court, so we’ll know who they are before the actual court appearance or verdict anyway – if it gets that far.

Its dangerous for accessibility if the public do know the presumed culprits, especially when their reputation suffers and then they are found not guilty of discrimination, there will be a big backlash against the accessibility community and the RNIB – that will set back accessibility.

There’s no hurry to identifying who they are – of course we’d like to know. But not at the expense of a fair legal trial. A good precedent toward accessible websites is far better than the identities of the first defendants.

Then again, the matter may not reach the courts since the two companies can still settle and get their websites in order. So legal action may not be seen through to its logical conclusion anyway. There is a possibility we will never find out who these two companies are, only that they’ve made reasonable adjustments.
Reply with quote
gez wrote:
I don’t agree that the companies should be named and shamed unless they have been found guilty.


I agree, I also think that no one should be named before any trial has concluded, but sadly that protection is only afforded to sex-related cases it seems.

I’m a bit perplexed because surely any legal action – except those expressed above – is documented in the public domain isn’t it?

Confusion aside, the article doesn’t state whether or not the companies involved will ever be named in the event of a guilty verdict. The implication I got from the article is that they wouldn’t… I could be wrong.

Also, the involvement of a confidentiality agreement implies that there’s some sort of co-operation between the two parties – What would the RNIB want in return for non-divulgence? I don’t think it’s likely that the companies said, ‘…yeah sure, you can take us to court if you don’t name us, we don’t mind!’.
Reply with quote It’s difficult to ascertain from the article exactly what’s happened, which will in part be due to the confidentiality agreement, and in part due to the ambiguous wording of the article. I got the impression that the RNIB had confirmed that two cases were definitely proceeding with court action.

I don’t know much about the law, but surely the details of the outcome would be required for precedence if one or both companies were found guilty? They’re the first cases of this nature in this country, so I can’t see how they could conceal the companies involved.

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