eBooks and the Disabled:
"The Soundproof Book"

The June issue of the Internet journal First Monday includes an excellent article that details how digital rights management often comes at the cost of accessibility for the disabled. According to authors George Kerscher (Project Manager to the DAISY Consortium and Senior Officer, Accessible Information, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic) and Jim Fruchterman (President and CEO of the Benetech Initiative and creator of Bookshare.org) the same DRM that prevents theft and misuse of ebooks also prevents screen reader programs from providing access with text-to-speech synthesizers and braille. Comments regarding this conflict are invited through the Open eBook Forum's website.

Kersher, George and Jim Fruchterman. "The Soundproof book: Exploration of rights conflict and access to commercial ebooks for people with disabilities," First Monday, 7:6 (June 2002).