Off-topic: Yahoo registration inaccessible to all blind users

[Geoff Shang]

Hi:

This is blatently off-topic.  If you're not interested, hit delete.  I'd
suggest not discussing it on list unless the moderator deems it on-topic,
but that's obviously not for me to say.  If you care at all, please feel
free to spread this around.

It is apparently now impossible for a blind or low vision person to
independantly register with yahoogroups, no matter what browser they are
using.  Yahoogroups has implemented a security feature to stop automated
programs from spuriously registering yahoo accounts.  Unfortunately, it's
 preventing blind people from registering also ... and they know it.

What they've done is to implement a system where a word is printed on the
screen as a graphic.  You have to correctly enter this word into the
sign-up form before you can register.  This is meant to prove that it's a
human doing the registration, but all it does prove is that it's a sighted
person able to read print that's doing the registration.  They have a link
to click if you can't see the word, and this is what that page says:

   What is Word Verification?
   Visually impaired or blind users: We can help you register. So that a
   customer care representative can contact you, please provide your
   phone number in addition to your required email address when you
   contact us by pasting this URL into your browser:
   http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/edit/cgi_access
   By entering the word you see in the box, you help Yahoo! prevent
   automated registrations. Doing this reduces system loads and ensures
   better performance of Yahoo! services.

   If no image appears, please make sure your browser is set to display
   images and try again. If you are not sure what the word is, make your
   best guess. If you guess incorrectly, you will have an opportunity to
   enter a different word on the next screen.

This is pretty damning.  They are conceeding that they know it's
inaccessibal to blind people and expect me as a blind person to hand over
my phone number so that they can walk me through the registration process.
Quite aside from the fact that I do not want to give out my phone number,
I'm highly doubtful that someone's going to spare the international expence
to call me in Australia.  And even if someone from Yahoo Australia calls
me, what if I live somewhere where there is no local yahoo branch?  someone
will still have to call me, and I wonder how bothered they'll be to do
that?

So what to do?  Firstly, give yahoo a hard time about it, both the main
yahoo in the USA and any local affiliates (e.g. yahoo UK, yahoo Japan,
yahoo Australia, etc).  I'd suggest boycotting them altogether, but I
realise that's not always possible.  I'd also urge any group moderators to
stop using any of the features requiring a yahoo ID until this is resolved.
If you're a member of a yahoo group, ask your list moderator not to use any
of these features, as you as a blind person won't be able to access them.

The yahoo signup page also says that the word verification technology was
developed in conjunction with the Captcha project (note the spelling) at
Carnegie Mellon University.  So I think we should give these people a hard
time too.

Geoff.