Netflix Web Accessibility Lawsuit; First Online Company to Face Charges

The Netflix lawsuit filed in 2010, was a pivotal web accessibility lawsuit. This case was the first time a company that operated solely online was considered a place of public accommodation and required to provide reasonable access for disabled individuals. The lawsuit is clearly shows that the internet is a public space and all it’s information and resources should have reasonable accommodations for disabled users. Now, businesses that operate at physical store locations or online need to be concerned with web accessibility.

Netflix, an online video store, has agreed to offer closed captioning for all videos available on their website. The National Association for the Deaf (NAD) filled the class action lawsuit back in 2010, stating that the video site was a public space that was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The popular video company put a significant amount of effort trying to dismiss the case on the grounds that ADA does not apply to Netflix because it was replaced by new laws from the FCC to provide rules for captioning online. The Netflix argument did not go through when a Massachusetts Federal judge ruled that the FCC was meant to work with ADA laws and not to replace them.  After a two year battle the class action lawsuit ended with the video service making an agreement to add captioning to all of it’s content by 2014, as well as implement other accessibility changes.

Netflix has Agreed To:

• Adding caption content within 30 days of posting by 2014, by 2015 must be added within 14 days and by 2016 within 7 days.
• Netflix offers video service on over 1,000 devices and captioning is available on many of those devices, but not all. In the future Netflix has made a promise to make significant efforts to work on all devices. However they are not required to work on 100% of all devices.
• $755,000 was awarded to the plaintiffs’ lawyers and $40,000 to go the official order of implementation over the upcoming 4 years.

Learning about #A11y

Internet accessibility is developing into a subject the internet community is conversing about, and for important reasons. Possessing an internet site that permits access to new customers, even those with disabilities, is vital for increasing business, and defends from legal actions due to discrimination. The topic of web accessibility has advanced from something technical that only internet developers, national and government internet websites, or major corporations, have paid attention to. Now, it is having a large impact on the entire internet community. Articles and blog post are sent out daily on the topic and anyone can follow the conversation live on social websites using the #a11y.

The word accessibility is 13 letters long, in an internet world that typically only allows 140 characters. A11y was created to condense the length of a word. The shortened word A11y, a numeronym, is the characters ‘A’ and ‘Y’ with the number 11, representing the characters between the beginning and last letter. A11y is utilized to imply the subject of accessibility or to switch with the word when used in a sentence. Here are a couple of samples:

Use #A11y in a sentence:
Help to increase awareness of web #A11y and support the disabled community.

Place the pound symbol at the back of your post to imply the subject:
Websites must provide equal access to all users. #A11y

Gain knowledge of what A11y means, and becomes part of the discussion to support web accessibility. Website accessibility is continuing to gain importance and weight, as it affects the existence of individuals with disabilities and impacts the visibility of company owned web pages across the globe.