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Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

lifemichael.com

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Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#431
post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They send an Abmahnung, which is similar to a cease and desist, but can include costs. You can refuse the cost and prepare for a possibly expensive battle, or pay the costs and call it a day. Usually, you are guilty of the minor crime you're accused of, so they have a case.

If you refuse, is there a second level of "extortion" from the lawyers?

They can take you to court. You can call their bluff if you believe that you have a case.

The problem is that your lawyer will never tell you "just pay them" if they can suggest that you have a chance in court. That's how they get paid after all.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source?

Here's Google's 1st hit for "Google Fonts privacy", you can find more: https://www.brycewray.com/posts/2020/08/google-fonts-privacy...

If you are going to cite an article, make sure it provides an answer to the prompt. There is nothing in this article that can't be inferred directly from the google fonts privacy policy.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source?

I’m not sure this is the issue precisely. However there’s been rulings that ban using Google analytics simply because doing so means the user sends a request to Google, and the user IP address is considered personal data (look up Schrems II). The same applies to Google fonts or anything hosted by Google. The interesting thing specifically about the fonts case is that, unlike other privacy regulation that defines only…

OP said "Google is specifically known to be using their fonts for tracking users across the web."

I mean... is it?

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#434
post #402
post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That is a bit of a strawman argument though, is there anyone saying that? Yes, you did. And then followed up with the same line of reasoning again in the next sentence: > The actual situation is likely more like if a blind person can't see your painting you have to describe it to them . But my painting is only meant to be appreciated visually because that is how I choose to express it. The idea that I should be forc…

If you feel that describing your painting to a blind person is beneath your dignity as an artist, to the point that you'd rather have left it unpainted, then truly I sit in awe of your principles. But why you think that you can apply that sort of standard to yourself, but not see a level of absurdity in the EU commission trying to wrest phone design away from Apple of all companies is still a profound mystery even af…

It's not just apple, it's all devices of a similar size which currently reduce accessability by having their own unique charging cable as a requirement. Forcing USB-C imcreases accessibility for the public and reduces general waste for physical devices.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#435
post #298

There's a firm in Southern California that's suing restaurants / small theaters / community organizations / etc after bulk-scanning web sites for embedded video that lack links to caption files. It's all ADA abuse, lawsuits in the $5k-$7k range. A huge percentage of those sued don't have the means to fight back, and settle. The company that's suing people had some incompetent coder write their scanner, so it only par…

See also, Scott Johnson. He files bogus shakedown suits over wheelchair accessibility throughout the state. Happily, the first hit is this article: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/attorney-scott-johns... It's nice to see karma at work.

That is nice karma. I hope the prison has an ADA accessible ramp.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#436

People with disabilities often struggle to find content they can consume because it's not a11y friendly. Unfortunately in this case lawyers are capitalizing on this law that was made to help people with disabilities to go after websites that are not a11y friendly. Maybe before shutting down you should consider making your content a11y friendly by adding captions to your videos. It is extra work but consider you may b…

This. I cannot believe the amount of strident anti-accessibility sentiment in this thread, it has to be coming mostly from the young and able-bodied? This has already been discussed and the question is settled, to the point of being actual law: civilized societies make allowances for people with disabilities. We are not some "Lord of the Flies" barbarians to say "f*ck the deaf" are we? It's 2022, captioning is a solv…

I definitely wouldn't describe myself as anti-accessibility: I think physical structures should be handicap accessible (with the caveat that I think private dwellings shouldn't be forced to be), I think government services should be built with accessibility in mind, etc.

I do think the loss of previously recorded course videos (https://reason.com/2017/03/07/berkeley-deletes-200000-free-o...) that had been free in order to prevent being sued is a net loss though, and I think there are most likely much better ways to incentivize accessibility than allowing people to sue "without harm".

Perhaps the most important thing to point out is that if the videos are taken down the deaf will not be able to access them at all; which is worse than them only being able to access them by relying on someone to help them.

Note that I do understand in certain circumstances inequitable access can have knock on effects such that nobody having access is better than creating an unfair playing field: for example in the case of these previously recorded lectures enrolled students would have an unfair playing field in that deaf students wouldn't have access to the same resources students with hearing would. I agree this is a problem as deaf students deserve a level playing field with their peers. However there are options other than removing the videos, such as requiring the university provide accessibility support services to actually enrolled students. Those support services could create captions based on student request.

Additionally (though it would involve higher taxation) providing people with disabilities support they can access as a government service would also help a lot I think in terms of providing access without leading to existing good things being destroyed.

There are a lot of things I do support doing to make sure the deaf can, as much as possible, access these sorts of materials so describing my position as "fuck the deaf" feels.... uncharitable.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#437
post #298

There's a firm in Southern California that's suing restaurants / small theaters / community organizations / etc after bulk-scanning web sites for embedded video that lack links to caption files. It's all ADA abuse, lawsuits in the $5k-$7k range. A huge percentage of those sued don't have the means to fight back, and settle. The company that's suing people had some incompetent coder write their scanner, so it only par…

See also, Scott Johnson. He files bogus shakedown suits over wheelchair accessibility throughout the state. Happily, the first hit is this article: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/attorney-scott-johns... It's nice to see karma at work.

He was punished only because he got greedy and under reported taxes on his legal grift.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#438
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See also, Scott Johnson. He files bogus shakedown suits over wheelchair accessibility throughout the state. Happily, the first hit is this article: https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/attorney-scott-johns... It's nice to see karma at work.

Article from 2019, I wonder what came of it. Seems trial date is January 2023. He’s still doing it, but possibly some pushback from the legal system regarding standing (do you really intend to come back there) https://www.sanjoseinside.com/news/__trashed/

> pushback from the legal system regarding standing

well that's just cold.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#439
post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it actually confuse you or is that a rhetorical question? On the one have you have global manufacturers being required to switch from one well established standard to another, it’s a requirement that barely touches on their resources as a firm and has more to do with their business strategy. Contrast that with organizations that are likely well meaning but barely have the technical competence to put up and maint…

Do you see how many qualifiers you added to this? What if it significantly touches on their resources as a firm? What if the company is “global” but revenue is primarily domestic? It’s always easy to carve these lines in the sand ex post facto. Good legislation lays out a set on consistent principles and enforcements, ex ante.

And bad legistlation gets exploited by scummy lawyers to hurt everyone except themselves, which is the topic of this thread.

Re: Thanks to the Israeli accessibility law, I have to delete my websites

#440
post #340
post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a small website that happens to be hosted in Germany since a German company donated a server. We had to add an "Impressum" with our contact details to make sure we didn't get hit with a letter demanding money from one of the law firms that specialise in shaking down sites that are missing them.

You can just tell them to sod off. The Impressum requirement is for German commercial websites. If you are not bound by this law, you don't have to obey it.

1. The legal definition of what's "commercial" under that law and what's not isn't necessarily quite as straightforward as a layman might think. (For one, that law doesn't literally say "commercial" ("gewerbsmäßig"), but rather "geschäftsmäßig" ("business-like"), which apparently can be interpreted to not require an intent to make money, but instead to include anything you plan on regularly doing).

2. Assuming you're referring to the Telemediengesetz, there's a second law (Medienstaatsvertrag) which mandates an imprint for anything that's not strictly for "personal or family purposes". Depending on who you ask, those two terms also require a rather narrow reading, so anything beyond a strictly private family diary (careful not to make references to any outside persons or businesses, though, because those entities will then have a legal interest in being able to identify you in case you malign them!) or family pictures or your private Dropbox replacement (ideally all the above should be password-protected and therefore not accessible by the general public anyway) might again already be in a grey area.

2b. Additionally, blogs can enter another grey area where depending on what and how you're blogging about, they might be classified as a journalistic service offering and therefore require an extended imprint, too.

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