News

Advocacy group suing redbox

January 12, 2012

A San Francisco group advocating for the visually impaired on Thursday sued redbox and a grocery chain that houses the DVD-rental kiosks, according to the San Francisco Gate.

Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired claims that the touchscreens on the kiosks make it impossible or difficult for visually impaired customers to use the kiosks.

For the visually impaired, a touchscreen without any tactile or audio guides provides no helpful information, according to Michael Nunez, an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates, which is representing Lighthouse. He told the San Francisco Gate that the kiosks should have software to include screen-reading technology that could instruct users through audio.

"This is a trend not unique to redbox," he said in the story. "Seeing kiosk technology propagated through airports, restaurants and shopping centers - it's a big concern that these technologies have a design that doesn't consider accessibility."

A spokesperson from Save Mart, the grocery chain named in the suit, said the company had not yet been served with the suit and could not comment. A spokesman for redbox declined to comment.

The suit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, asks the companies to make kiosks accessible and pay undetermined damages to the plaintiffs, which includes five Bay Area residents.

Read more about DVD kiosks.