E Commerce via Lynx

[Janina Sajka <janina afb net>]

Hi:

in less than a month's time, the Access Board, a U.S. Federal agency, will
release its proposed regulations for implementing Sec. 508. This new
Federal law will require that Federal electronic and information
technology be accessible, unless doing so would impose an undue burden.

Never mind the legal stuff, though. There's an aspect of this that
troubles me, and folks on this list may well be able to help. The issue is
whether or not the Sec. 508 regulations will say anything about access to
secure web services such as banking information and the buying and selling
of goods and services online.

I myself have had trouble trying to buy things on the Internet using Lynx
2.8 with encryption. At the time we tested this at AFB, we thought we had
the latest encryption modules and the latest Lynx. We were still
unsuccessful with many secured sites.

Some weeks ago, secured browsing was discussed on this list. I seem to
recall that someone here was even offering a precompiled Lynx with
encryption. Here's my question to any and all of you who've tried using
character-based browsers to access such things as your bank statement, or
ebay, or buy.com, or any of the many online sites that sell things and
take credit cards online. Does it work? Are there specific urls you can
supply that do not work?

I will be grateful for all feedback about this. You may write privately,
if this seems more appropriate. Thanks in advance for your help. I will
share any issues identified with Access Board staff, but will not share
names or other personal info.


				Janina Sajka, Director
				Information Systems Research & Development
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

janina afb net