America Off-Line: A Look At The Applicability Of The Americans With Disabilities Act On Streaming Digital Media And the Internet

In 2012, the National Association for the Deaf brought suit against Netflix for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) by not captioning their streaming ondemand video content. The National Association for the Deaf won at the District Court level and Netflix has since settled the case. However, this case brought to the forefront the widening split between those Circuit Courts of Appeal which do not feel the ADA applies to online businesses, and those Circuits which believe that the ADA does apply to online businesses. One problem that complicates the analysis is the distinction and applicability of the ADA between commercial websites that also maintain brick and mortar storefronts and interactive websites that are exclusively online. As detailed in this Comment, the growing disparity between ADA-compliant websites and non-compliant websites necessitates a common approach by the courts in order to bring the Internet in line with the intent of the ADA, to give people with disabilities the same type of access to services and goods that is afforded everyone else