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18 March 2019 by Amanda Rush 24 Comments

In yet another attempt to become the “One Browser to Rule Them All,” Google is adding the ability to Chrome for screen reader users to ask for automated alt text for images. “Oh hey, since we’re not allowed to explicitly track screen reader usage, let’s just set up a honeypot to get screen reader users to just hand the information over.” I can’t wait to have to once again make a choice between privacy and accessibility. My life-long dream has always been to live in a database controlled by Google simply because I’m a screen reader user. I can see it now. Some company like Aira would absolutely love to get their hands on that kind of advertising data, and Google will gleefully hand it to them for the right price. Dear fellow developers, screw you for abandoning alt text like yesterday’s leftover fast food.

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  • ((( Amanda ))) says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 10:49

    ((( Amanda ))) reposted this note on twitter.com.

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  • mallory, alice & bob says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 10:59

    mallory, alice & bob mentioned this note on twitter.com.

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  • mallory, alice & bob says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 10:59

    mallory, alice & bob mentioned this note on twitter.com.

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  • Rian Rietveld says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 11:36

    Rian Rietveld reposted this note on twitter.com.

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  • Roberto Perez says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 11:42

    I unfortunately agree. https://t.co/vSl16nWXeo

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  • SteinErik Skotkjerra says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 11:49

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    18 March 2019 at 12:02

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    18 March 2019 at 15:22

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    18 March 2019 at 15:25

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    18 March 2019 at 15:26

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  • Heather says: @ twitter.com
    18 March 2019 at 21:22

    Heather reposted this note on twitter.com.

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  • Roger Johansson says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 02:00

    Roger Johansson reposted this note on twitter.com.

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  • Lukas Gächter says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 02:43

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  • Gunnar Bittersmann says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 03:41

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  • overflow:hidden says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 03:47

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  • Thomas Puppe says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 03:54

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  • Else ? ? says: @ twitter.com
    19 March 2019 at 15:12

    Else ? ? liked this note on twitter.com.

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    23 March 2019 at 16:39

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  • James Teh says: @ twitter.com
    27 March 2019 at 06:30

    Just FYI, Chrome (even Firefox) can already detect you’re running a screen reader. They don’t need the image recognition feature to do that.

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  • Derek Riemer says: @ twitter.com
    27 March 2019 at 07:15

    Yeah we can definitely detect . and we wouldn’t need to build a needlessly large feature to do that. Plus all of the code on the front end at least is open source, in the back end code is governed by privacy policies.
    None of the data sent to them is sent with any account info.

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  • Allen Hoffman says: @ twitter.com
    27 March 2019 at 07:58

    I have to ask what is wrong with tracking user-agents? We already do for all others. WCAG already classifies AT as user-agents. Screen reader use is not protected even if disability is. If features can be enabled based on such status without degrading a11y for others why not

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    • Ian says:
      28 March 2019 at 13:17

      This: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2019/03/28/facebook-charged-disability-discrimination/26293/

      Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    27 March 2019 at 08:03

    Tracking screen readers specifically risks exposing health data, (in this case, disability status).

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  • L. R. Legendary says: @ twitter.com
    27 March 2019 at 09:31

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