Kindle: Shutting out the blind?

Some colleges are banning Amazon's e-reader as activists demand a "blind-friendly" version

Activists for the visually impaired scored a victory last week when the U.S. Department of Justice ruled that Amazon's Kindle e-reader should not be used in college classrooms until the company creates a truly "blind-friendly" version (one is due this summer). Meanwhile, some commentators claim that barring the device from the classroom is unfair to sighted students. Is the Justice Department's ruling politically correctness gone awry?

The Justice Department overstepped its bounds: None of the schools involved in this case attempted to make Kindle usage "mandatory," says Todd G. at Student Stuff. So why is the government getting involved? By telling universities what they "can and can’t 'recommend' to students," the Justice Department is encouraging similarly frivolous complaints.

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