[A2k] James Boyle: Obama in Cyberspace (FT)

[Robert Martinengo]

On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 6:03 PM, Jeffrey A.
Williams<jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

=A0In any event seems to me the blind and sight disabled
> may eventually have a case under civil discrimination statutes and
> should file such a challenge

Ok, one last post and I promise to drop it. Promise.

So, speaking of discrimination...

First, the NGOs that will benefit from the treaty generally do not
have the resources to produce professional quality accessible versions
of books. They often employ volunteers and even prison labor. These
folks have their hearts in the right places (well, maybe not some of
the prisoners), but they are not pros. I worked for RFB&D and I would
say only about a third of the volunteer readers were top quality, and
that's being generous. Don't get me wrong, they provide a wonderful
service that would otherwise not be available, but no publisher would
put out product of that quality.

Bookshare is another non-profit with a fantastically devoted volunteer
base - they practically run the place. But many, many Bookshare books
are riddled with errors. Its no surprise - optical character
recognition is a b****! Errors are inevitable, and I understand they
have been trying hard to upgrade the quality level. But the fact
remains, its a trade-off: more titles, less quality. Funny thing is,
they are now adding thousands of error-free titles donated directly by
publishers - no Chafee required. So again, the growth area is in
publisher cooperation, not exemptions.

Next, the idea that books are inaccessible is simply not true and the
stats about how few books are published in accessible formats are
being manipulated for maximum pity value. The reality is a
print-disabled person can buy a hardware device that will scan just
about any book or paper document and read it aloud, as well as devices
to magnify and otherwise make print accessible. These devices put the
power in the hands of the people

Are such devices magic bullets? Of course not, but until electronic
books the economic reality was that there were not enough
print-disabled people out there to warrant publishing every book as an
audio book or in braille. But I don't think you can call that a market
failure - the money simply isn't there. The future lies in accessible
electronic formats, published that way.

So I will wrap this up, safe in the knowledge that the facts I
presented will not unduly disturb the zealots in the audience. Please
do go right ahead and campaign for consumer rights for the blind that
will further alienate them from the producers of that which they seek.
The treaty will enshrine discrimination, not eliminate it.

Regards,
Bob