Target settle for $6m in NFB web accessibility lawsuit! 28 Aug 2008

So that's it, the saga that began in 2006 is finally over: Target has settled for $6 million in the National Federation for the Blind's (NFB) class action lawsuit regarding the accessibility of Target.com.

Some are heralding this as a major victory in the war on inaccessible sites. Others are disappointed that the case did not go to court (since a ruling on this matter might have set more of a precedent/scared a few more big companies into taking action). Accessibility ace (and friend of Etre) Bruce Lawson seems to have delivered the most measured response so far. He considers $6 million too little - considering that Target gives away $3million every week "to its local communities through grants and special programs" - and also points out that the terms of the settlement mean that the only people that will benefit from the outcome of this case are blind screenreader users (and not other groups who face different types of accessibility problems). The latter point is a real issue since it could end up convincing organisations to start developing for assistive technologies (like screenreaders) as opposed to users - or put another way, machines rather than people. Not good!

See also:

• NFB claims may be off-Target
• Blind shoppers win the right to sue Target
• BusinessWeek on Target and web accessibility