Without the fanfare that accompanied the release of the original proposed regulations, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released modified regulations regarding the California Consumer Protection Act late in the afternoon on February 7. An updated version was released on February 10. The modifications were prepared in response to the extensive feedback received during the comment period, which closed on December 6. Although many of the changes were non-substantive…

Is your website a potential liability? Yes, it probably is. Over the last three to four years, there has been an “explosion” of lawsuits and claims by disabled people, asserting that businesses’ websites (and, increasingly, their mobile apps) were not accessible to them because they were not up to code with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, according to Charles Marion,…

When plaintiffs sue companies alleging that their websites do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), courts start by answering two threshold legal questions. Does the ADA apply to websites? And if it does, which websites does it apply to? At least seven federal circuit courts have answered these questions and have reached three different conclusions. Until recently, California courts had provided little…

Kurt Eichenwald sat down at the desk in his Dallas home office and logged onto Twitter. The prominent journalist and author was used to Internet invective — especially then, in the weeks after he posted a particularly inflammatory tweet about President Trump. More than 170 notifications awaited him when he signed on that evening, Dec. 15, 2016. But he didn’t make it past the first one: A…

As our everyday world moves increasingly online, the digital landscape presents new challenges for ensuring accessibility for the blind. A recent court challenge against Domino's pizza may be a watershed case guiding the rights of disabled people on the internet, writes James Jeffrey. Each swipe 17-year-old Maysie Gonzales makes on her smart phone is accompanied by what sounds like the famous Stephen Hawking voice barking…

Disabled folks like Vint Cerf and Joybubbles helped birth today’s digital world. But a lack of ADA compliance thwarts the innovators of tomorrow. Without the inspiration and innovation of two disabled individuals, the digital world likely wouldn’t be what it is today. Yet that same world so summarily excludes disabled individuals today that we’re eliminating the very people we will need to solve the web’s future problems.…

It may seem that people with disabilities have made a lot of progress accessing the same resources as people without disabilities. But there's always more ground to cover. Right now there's an important battle playing out online and in the courts IRL, where many businesses are questioning whether they have to make their websites and mobile apps accessible — and disabilities rights advocates are vehemently…

UPDATE: On Monday, October 7, the Supreme Court declined to hear Domino's appeal, meaning legal uncertainty will remain. Should companies be sued if blind people can't access their apps and websites? The issue is a matter of civil rights, some claim, but others argue it's a pretext for lawyers to shake down innocent businesses. Now, the Supreme Court could step in to settle the matter in a…

The pizza chain is asking the Supreme Court to review a case that could push business websites to better serve people with disabilities. This is part of CNET's "Tech Enabled" series about the role technology plays in helping the disability community. When the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, the internet wasn't yet a critical part of our lives. We weren't connected to it 24/7,…