NFBCO Participates in Protest against Inaccessible Kindle at Amazon Headquarters

Nine members from the NFB of Colorado traveled to Seattle Washington to participate in a protest against Kindle at Amazon headquarters.  Although the National Federation of the Blind has made many attempts to work with Amazon regarding accessibility issues in Kindle e-readers, e-books, and software, Amazon continues to produce products with inadequate accessibility for blind users.

Amazon has recently released Whispercast software which allow Kindle books to be pushed out to other devices.  Amazon is attempting to utilize the whisper cast software to get Kindle books into K-12 educational settings.  It is against the law for schools to adopt new hardware/software that is inaccessible so if Amazon is successful, schools across the nation will be in violation of the federal law.

Yesterday, nearly 100 members and supporters of the National Federation of the Blind from across the nation, gathered in the rain at the Amazon headquarters in Seattle to express our dissatisfaction with Amazon's tactics to promote inaccessibility in the schools.  We marched, carried signs, chanted, played music, and had a wonderful rendition of How the Grinch (Mr. Jeff Bazos) of E-books!

There was a lot of positive press including the articles that you will find linked below.  Overall, the protest was an excellent opportunity for the National Federation of the Blind to spread public awareness about our concerns.  NFB of Colorado participants enjoyed playing our part in a very successful protest.

The Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2019892092_amazonebooksxml.html

NPR KPLU 88.5

http://www.kplu.org/post/blind-protesters-march-amazon-over-kindle-accessibility

Geek Wire

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/protesting-kindle-national-federation-blind-conducting-picket-amazon-headquarters/

Good E-Reader

http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/national-federation-of-the-blind-marches-on-amazon-headquarters/