Time concept: Hourglass on computer keyboard backgroundBy Minh N. Vu

According to the Spring 2015 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) will issue no proposed regulations for public accommodations websites until least April 2016 — nearly a year from now. However, the proposed regulations for state and local government websites, originally slated for December 2014, should be out
Continue Reading Website Regulations Update: Public Accommodations Proposed Regs Further Delayed BUT State and Local Proposed Rules Due Out. . . Now?

By Kristina M. Launey

Once again, CSUN’s International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference brought together thought leaders, programmers, corporate and governmental accessibility representatives, vendors of digital accessibility solutions, advocates, and others in the field of digital accessibility to share developments and ideas. The large, varied crowd, as well as the substantive sessions, remove any possible doubt that the area of web and mobile accessibility is rightfully garnering a lot of attention.

Although the Department of Justice is still working on proposed regulations that would presumably adopt a legal standard defining what is an accessible website or mobile app, its recent enforcement actions make clear that the absence of regulations poses no impediment to legal action against businesses for not having accessible websites or mobile apps. Private plaintiffs have been also been very active in filing lawsuits or asserting such claims against many companies.  In this climate, many companies that have either been the targets of these actions, or just paying close attention to these developments, have decided that it is better to commit to accessibility now than to engage in a protracted and expensive legal battle.  Moreover, as many companies at the conference have recognized, building accessibility into any refreshes, redesigns, or new rollouts of websites or mobile apps makes sense over increased expense of remediating those same sites later, especially if remediation is done in response to legal action.

The conference’s legal update session drove these points home.  Accessibility civil rights attorneys Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian emphasized their position that Title III of ADA does cover websites, and gave a year-in-review report of digital accessibility legal developments in the following industries:
Continue Reading Accessible Websites and Mobile Apps: Hot Topics at CSUN’s International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference

By Kevin Fritz

Members of the European Parliament voted last week to strengthen a proposed European Directive on Accessibility of Public Sector Bodies’ Websites.  The beefed up version of the directive would require all UK public sector websites to be accessible to users with disabilities; not just those sites proposed by the European Commission, such as social security benefits and
Continue Reading New EU Web Accessibility Rules In the Works

By:  Minh Vu

Nearly three years ago, in September 2010, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it would be issuing proposed regulations governing the accessibility of websites of public accommodations and state and local governments.  The announcement came in the form of an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which sought comments from the public about what should be in
Continue Reading Justice Department Pushes Back Date For Proposed Website Accessibility Rules – Yet Again

Minh Vu, Seyfarth Shaw’s ADA Title III Team Leader and a Department of Justice veteran, provided insights for Law360’s Expert Analysis column today on how a Romney victory tomorrow might impact important pending disability access regulations that would cover the websites, equipment, and furniture of public accommodations.  Click here to see this article.
Continue Reading Minh Vu Shares Thoughts on How The Presidential Election Could Affect Pending ADA Regulations on Law360