Off-topic: Yahoo registration inaccessible to all blind users

[Steve Holmes]

That's our whole point! If this kind of shit is used with Yahoo, what's to
stop other services from using that garbage in the name of tighter
security? It reminds me of some products introduced some years back that
would play some kind of hand-eye cordination game with the user to prove
it is who he says he is to connect to the local dial-up network at work.
thank God, this stuff was never implemented at my work but they did talk
about it briefly til I talked them out of it.

A web site or application should *NEVER* *NEVER* use bit mapped text that
cannot be read by any adaptive screen reader products!  The only good
thing about that crap was those banner ads we could never read. We didn't
see them nor hear them so they didn't bother us and we never clicked
them:).

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Victor Tsaran wrote:

> Hi,
> There is really nothing Yahoo can do for you in this case. Unless you have
> some ideas on how the subscription process can be changed, send your
> suggestion to them. From the programming point of view, there is nothing
> they can do to better the situation. I know it sounds harsh, but there is
> not much else to say. No kind of alt tag or picture description can be
> employed to make the "word" accessible.
> Vic
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Geoff Shang" <gshang at uq.net.au>
> To: <blindcast at yahoogroups.com>; <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>;
> <acbri-forum at acbradio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 12:23 PM
> Subject: Off-topic: Yahoo registration inaccessible to all blind users
>
>
> > 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.
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> >
> >
>
>
>
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