From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from fort-point-station.mit.edu ([18.7.7.76]) by speech.braille.uwo.ca with esmtp (Exim 3.32 #1 (Debian)) id 16TSGL-0005M0-00 for ; Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:36:45 -0500 Received: from central-city-carrier-station.mit.edu (CENTRAL-CITY-CARRIER-STATION.MIT.EDU [18.7.21.75]) by fort-point-station.mit.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id NAA24300 for ; Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:36:47 -0500 (EST) Received: from melbourne-city-street.mit.edu (MELBOURNE-CITY-STREET.MIT.EDU [18.7.21.86]) by central-city-carrier-station.mit.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id NAA06308 for ; Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:33:04 -0500 (EST) Received: from vantaa ([18.81.1.76]) by melbourne-city-street.mit.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with SMTP id NAA23893 for ; Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:33:04 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <004901c1a43d$2b085050$4c015112@vantaa> From: "Rich Caloggero" To: References: <000801c1a406$3ef6df50$098c3244@cp286066a> Subject: Re: Off-topic: Yahoo registration inaccessible to all blind users Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 13:38:35 -0500 Organization: MIT ATIC MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 Sender: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca Errors-To: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca X-BeenThere: speakup@braille.uwo.ca X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.7 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca X-Reply-To: "Rich Caloggero" List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: If they want to be sure that a human is sitting at the console, have the "word" be spoken as well as appear on the screen as an image. Seems simple enough. Rich ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Poehlman" To: Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 7:05 AM Subject: Re: Off-topic: Yahoo registration inaccessible to all blind users > we've been discussing this elsewhere and with yahoo who are working on > the issue. > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Geoff Shang" > To: ; ; > > Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2002 6:23 AM > 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@braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > >