It's unfortunate when good messages are undercut (while also validated in this case?) because the site hosting them uses an #accessibility#overlay. In this case, #UserWay by #LevelAccess.
Where @janmaarten shows that just a couple days after #accessiBe’s CEO promised to stop being such a lying liarface it went and used sock puppet Twitter accounts to promote its #overlay.
As I keep saying, past behavior is a predictor of future behavior (side-eyes #AudioEye, #UserWay, #FACILiti).
• Claims it is ‘AI’ (it never was, & UserWay’s first LLM effort is still a gag),
• effusive positive terms to describe it and #LevelAccess,
• ignores heaps of (real) press critical of UserWay,
• no other sources,
• #UserWay has a history of doing this (see its overlay Community Group).
The CG head doesn’t seem to think there is anything wrong with this behavior. I am of the opinion this behavior violates the @w3c CG rules (on a plane so cannot look it up easily).
So now an #overlay BS document is referenced in a DoJ document.
Sharing a LinkedIn (ugh) post because it hits at core concerns over the marketing- and revenue-driven models of the (abled) corporate efforts supplanting genuine #accessibility in favor of inadequate tools pitched using FUD, now buying veneers of credibility despite often amoral actions:
Late to the party because I really needed to think about this.
I believe what is happening is IAAP is hosting a session promoting #overlays.
It has 7 dudes on a panel:
• One is from #FACILiti (filed SLAPPs against disabled critics).
• One from #UserWay (known for lifting content, failing at WCAG).
• One from #AccessiWay (was so bad I ignored it).
And then three more I’m disappointed to see aligning themselves with this.
Pat notes that if #LevelAccess successfully fixes #accessibility issues at the source for #UserWay customers, then the #overlay product will no longer have its claimed value (other than offering crappy versions of features already built into browsers).
Which suggests #LevelAccess is financially motivated not to kill the monthly revenue streams it just paid $100 million to acquire.
“[‘Accessibility at the Edge’ Community Group] is where W3C is developing, identifying, and categorizing existing and prospective features relating to edge computing technologies in the realm of internet accessibility, including the role of overlays.”
No, @w3c is not doing that. You and #overlay shills are.
I resent that this conversation is happening on LinkedIn. But Level Access has no true blog with comment features, and LinkedIn seems to be the only platform it uses that also allows feedback.
The Level Access CEO has not responded — and I did not ask a question, so that is fine. But after a handful of initial replies, he has stopped responding.
I assume lawyers suggested he not comment further.
Which also suggests Level Access has decided to end its dialog with the #accessibility industry and community.
It seems hilariously ironic that, starting this year, my apartment switched to having us pay using another payment portal service, Bilt Rewards, which happens to use #UserWay. I'm happy to report that it's as terrible as always and NOT#accessible, to nobody's surprise. In fact, as someone that's #blind, it just succeeds at cluttering up the page. Thanks, Level Access, for integrating this kind of product into your portfolio and allowing its leader to run your company. Capitalism, man.