Companies/organizations that discriminate

Companies that unfairly discriminate

Some people are blind or otherwise have weak vision, and can't read text off the screen. Instead they rely on automated devices to convert written text into verbal speech. These devices are incapable of converting images into anything spoken. Accordingly these people are unable to read the distorted word in the GIF or JPG which is supposed to distinguish between humans (who should get access to services) and spambots (which should be denied services). Accordingly disabled people are denied services on the pretext that they aren't really human. There are other, IMO better, ways to distinguish humans from spambots, which work with text, no images needed, so that visually impaired people would be able to get services just like anyone else.
Update: On 2008.Jul.14 I started this.

Some people are very afraid of their computer becoming infected with viruses/worms/trojans/spambots, and they have heard how JavaScript in MicroSoft Internet Explorer is vulnerable to such trespassers, so they refuse to ever enable JavaScript. Some Web sites refuse anyone to have access, or to perform common operations, unless JavaScript is enabled. Sometimes this is because the entire service has been rewritten to run as a JavaScript program instead of a normal HTML interchage. Other sites don't actually use JavaScript for anything, but nevertheless require JavaScript to be enabled just to get into the site. Either kind of site discriminates against security-conscious people who have JavaScript disabled.

Some people, including myself, can't afford a new computer, and our old computer isn't doesn't have enough capability to run direct InterNet (PPP or SLIP). The best we can afford is dialup into a Unix shell account, using a VT100 emulator (plain US-ASCII text, with some color and/or underlining to emulate bold and italic etc. markup in Web pages), then running lynx (a text-only Web browser, no images, no JavaScript) to get on the Web. We are therefore denied access to both the sites that require viewing images and the sites which require JavaScript. Accordingly both kinds of sites discriminate against us on the basis of our low income. Furthermore, using VT100 dialup, it's impossible to run MicroSoft InterNet Explorer or Mozilla FireFox or other graphics-mode Web browsers. Some Web sites specifically require MicroSoft InterNet Explorer for access to their site. These kinds of sites also discriminate against us on the basis of our low income. (More details about my situation)

Companies/sites that discriminate against lynx users:

lynx doesn't have JavaScript. Some sites require JavaScript:
- Kaiser Permanente (my HMO) requires JavaScript to log on as a member (patient). As a result I have no online way to communicate with my primary health care provider. The best I can do is FAX something to the office then wait to get something a week later in snail mail.
- Project Hired -- Getting an account works, and logging in works, but the four-page application for services requires JavaScript to submit each part. For an agency that is supposed to help low-income disabled people to find jobs, discriminating against us is especially hurtful.
  Update: I complained to the person in charge of intake, and she agreed that I could print the blank form from lynx to a text file, edit it locally to overwrite the text-fields appearance "_____________" with the desired text to put in each text field, and e-mail the resultant text to her, and she'd manually copy&paste from my e-mail to the online application form. So in the end they aren't quite as bad as they seemed at first. But I needed to be a squeaky wheel to get any service, which is difficult for me because one of my lifelong disabilities, partly improved in 1999, is shyness, which Kaiser refuses to diagnose because treatment for it isn't covered by Medi-Cal.
- Yahoo! Mail -- Most features (for example: replying to or composing new e-mail, moving files between folders, creating/renaming folders) require JavaScript in the 2004.May and all later versions. To get those features without JavaScript, you need to revert to the pre-2004 version. From either of the newer versions (2004 or 2007), you need to click on the refresh link at the very top of the main page, which takes you to a page that explains that you don't have JavaScript, and then click on the revert link about 30 lines down that page. Some features, such as setting up filters and reporting spam, require JavaScript in all versions, even the pre-2004 version.
  Update 2008: There's a new "streamlined classic" version which is totally broken and offers no way to revert to the pre-2004 version. Some Yahoo! Mail accounts are automatically switched to this version without warning.
  Jeremy said (at street fair in 2007) that people at Yahoo are working on the problem, but it has very low priority, so if it's important to you, then you need to e-mail him to show more people need it fixed.
  Update 2008.June: Yahoo has forcibly converted several of my accounts, including my primary account, to "streamlined classic". Out of desperation I tried to get accounts on gmail and hotmail, but those are completely broken even worse than YM "streamlined classic". Somebody suggested getting an account on Lycos, and that actually works from lynx!! Meanwhile on Jun.17 I found one of my accounts that hasn't been converted and switched my SpamGourmet account to forward there.
  Update 2008.Jun.24: Yahoo has forcibly converted that account and all but two of the rest of my accounts. Also there is no way whatsoever in Yahoo! Mail "streamlined classic" to see the full headers that show where spam is coming from in order to be able to lookup where to complain about it. Also the format is grossly ruined in "streamlined classic" which is their only offering without JavaScript. Here are screen prints: immediately after login / when looking at the list of folders / when looking at my inbox / when looking at an individual message within my inbox
- Manpower technical training courses -- From the main menu, all links regarding courses available require JavaScript.
- If you're on the do-not-call list, and a telemarketer calls you anyway, there's no way to file a complaint without JavaScript.
  File that you are currently viewing
  . Linkname: National Do Not Call Registry
  . URL: https://www.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx
  . Link that you currently have selected
  Linkname: Continue
  . URL: javascript:__doPostBack('ContinueButton','')
Images (GIF, JPEG) can't be viewed over VT100 dialup. Some sites require the user to view images to gain access:
- Yahoo! Mail -- Getting a new account requires viewing a CAPTCHA.
- Yahoo! Groups -- Creating a new Group, or joining an existing Group over the Web, requires viewing a CAPTCHA. After receiving an invitation, joining via e-mail works OK, but then you need to go to the Web page for the Group to set up your preferences.
- KBAY FM's home page uses all GIFs without any alternate text for navigation, making it totally inscrutable for lynx users.
  Update 2008.May.22: I tested this site again, and they have replaced the GIFs by legitimate text. I don't have time right now to check if it's fully usable now.
  Update: Still no time to fully test the updated Web site, but here's a screen print on Jun.20 which is much improved from a few months ago.
- KPFA public radio in Berkeley requires a CAPTCHA to submit feedback on their programming. See the article I posted, containing the full text of my feedback and my frustration over their Web site.
- whocallsme.com is supposed to help me complain about harassing phone calls, but they refuse me service because I can't see images here.
The following Web sites require either images or JavaScript, therefore discriminate against low-income people such as myself and/or visually disabled and/or security-conscious people.
Some sites are just totally broken in ways I can't diganose:
- Safeway chain of supermarkets: Just a blank screen. The source seems to indicate HTML header and JavaScript, but apparently there's no actual HTML markup at all in the WebPage. I discovered this when I tried to apply for a job at a local Safeway, and spent 20 minutes standing at the kiosk, hurting my back, while the employee tried to get the kiosk to work. Finally he said to go home and apply from home, so I went home and tried the WebSite only to see nothing but a blank screen. That was in early 2006. More than two years later, it still hasn't been fixed.
- eHarmony
- Yoshi's jazz nightclub
- Most Web sites that allege to provide driving directions are totally broken. Just a few are working. See critique of them all in DrivingDirections.html.
- infinera.com: On 2008.Jul.01 a representative from infinera visited Project Hired to talk about his company and invite us to apply for jobs that should be visible on their Web site. But the next day when I tried www.infinera.com there was nothing but a blank screen. The page source doesn't have any HTML markup whatsoever, just a single line of <script> which doesn't even say what scripting language is supposed to be used.
- California Lifeline (telephone discount) - (just a blank screen, no form to fill out)

New notes not yet organized:


> Try http://www.earthlink.net

I see at the top of their home page:
   EarthLink myEarthLink | Web Mail | My Account | Support | Security
   Center

I assume I should click on the "Web Mail link:

   The Web Mail system requires you to have JavaScript enabled in your
   browser.

<http://www.rawbw.com/~rem/NewPub/mySituation.html>
There is no way I can get JavaScript here, so EarthLink
WebMail is not an option for me at this time, until and
unless I can get a new computer that provides direct
PPP or DSL access whereupon I could use a GUI Web
browser that supported JavaScript.


javascript:submitForm('forgotUserIdForm')


->
   REFRESH(0 sec):
   https://servicing.capitalone.com/C1/LoginError.aspx?info=101
->
https://servicing.capitalone.com/C1/LoginError.aspx?info=101
   It appears that you do not have JavaScript enabled on your browser.


File that you are currently viewing
   Linkname: National Do Not Call Registry
        URL: https://www.donotcall.gov/complaint/complaintcheck.aspx
Link that you currently have selected
   Linkname: Continue
        URL: javascript:__doPostBack('ContinueButton','')


File that you are currently viewing
   Linkname: ImageMakers | KQED Public Media for Northern CA
        URL: http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/imagemakers/
Link that you currently have selected
   Linkname: Leave Feedback
        URL: javascript:HaloScan('imagemakers_general');


LinkedIn:
   Make sure you have cookies and Javascript enabled in your browser
   before signing in.


hotmail.com
   calrobert618@hotmail.com NoSpamEver
http://login.live.com/login.srf?wa=wsignin1.0&rpsnv=10&ct=1215238176&rver=4.5.2130.0&wp=MBI&wreply=http:%2F%2Fmail.live.com%2Fdefault.aspx&id=64855
Windows Live ID requires JavaScript to sign in.


lycos.com
   calrobert618@lycos.com NoSpamEver
Basically works, but without JavaScript it's not possible to:
- create new folder
- see full headers -- With JavaScript, shown in tabular format [LycosFullHdr]
- move message to different folder
(Finished copying out worthwhile text Sep.08, time to abandon that account.)


mail2world.com
   CalRobert703@mail2world.com
Can log in, but 2 of 6 frames require JavaScript just to get to see
 them, and all functions in other frames require JavaScript, so it's
 useless!


mail.com
calrobert703@mail.com
mail.com e-mail service uses javascript for many functions.
Can login, view folders, view individual messages,
but no way to see full headers.
Can create new folder, but no way to move message to folder.


ATSC channel 32-4 WTV shows advertisement for Math Mentor, but that
Web site discriminates against low-income disabled people such as
myself:

File that you are currently viewing
   Linkname: www.mathmentor.tv
        URL: http://mathmentor.tv/

                                                              www.mathmentor.tv
   FRAME: http://video.sccoe.org/math_mentor

Link that you currently have selected
   Linkname: http://video.sccoe.org/math_mentor
        URL: http://video.sccoe.org/math_mentor
->
File that you are currently viewing
   Linkname: Untitled Document
        URL: http://video.sccoe.org/math_mentor/

                                                              Untitled Document
Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.
   Get Adobe Flash player

-------------

http://www.usajobs.gov/ requires JavaScript to get a new account:
Link that you currently have selected
   Linkname: Create an Account
        URL: https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Account.aspx
Link that you currently have selected
   Linkname: Submit
        URL: javascript:WebForm_DoPostBackWithOptions(new
          WebForm_PostBackOptions("MasterPage1:BodyContent:Buttons:btnSub
          mit", "", true, "", "", false, true))