Readers here are aware of the recent fiasco where Amazon decided to handicap the Kindle 2. Some may have taken part in the protest yesterday at the headquarters of the Authors Guild in New York City yesterday.

It is encouraging today to see coverage of this issue at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Access to trustworthy information in accessible formats is essential for travelers. Backsliding on accessibility and industry hesitation to enfranchise the largest group of people possible with existing technology is damaging to the progress of inclusion in travel and leisure.

EFF writes:

Disability Access Activists Gather to Protest Kindle DRM

News Update by Tim Jones

Yesterday, hundreds of people gathered in front of the headquarters of The Authors Guild in New York City to protest the removal of text-to-speech capabilities in Amazon's new Kindle 2 ebook device.

You may remember a few months ago, when The Authors Guild claimed (falsely) that the text-to-speech feature violated copyright law, and forced Amazon to disable it.

Now, the people who would have benefited most from the new feature -- the blind, and others with reading disabilities -- have made it clear that they're not going to stand for it.

Gizmodo's John Mahoney was there and has excellent coverage. He writes:

Everything was of course peaceful and contained right in front of the Authors Guild's seventh floor offices on 32nd street on Manhattan's east side. They had a pretty fantastic march ring set up, with many folks leading those who could not see at all in the ring, and sighted people whose job was to tell the marchers when to turn. Several seeing eye dogs joined in expressing their distaste.

For the whole story:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/protest-kindle-drm