Blind Americans to Protest Amazon's Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools

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National Federation of the Blind logo. (PRNewsFoto/National Federation of the Blind)

MEDIA ADVISORY

SEATTLE, Dec. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by the National Federation of the Blind:

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120815/MM57966LOGO)

Date: December 12, 2012

Time: 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PST

Place: Amazon.com Headquarters
426 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

On Wednesday, December 12, over a hundred members and supporters of the National Federation of the Blind will participate in a protest outside of Amazon.com's headquarters in Seattle. David A. Paterson, the fifty-fifth governor of the state of New York, is also scheduled to participate. The informational picket will raise awareness of a recent push by Amazon to put Kindle e-books, which are inaccessible to blind students, into K-12 classrooms across the country. The action comes on the heels of Amazon's launch of Whispercast, a system designed to allow teachers and school administrators to push Kindle e-books to different devices, theoretically allowing the sharing of content among devices brought to school by the students. Kindle content, unlike some other e-book products, is not accessible to blind students, even on devices that are themselves accessible to the blind, such as personal computers and iPads. For more information about the protest or this important issue, please visit www.nfb.org/kindle-books.

About the National Federation of the Blind

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, and most influential nationwide membership organization of blind people in the United States. Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for the civil rights and equality of blind Americans, and develops innovative education, technology, and training programs to provide the blind and those who are losing vision with the tools they need to become independent and successful. We need your support. To make a donation, please go to www.nfb.org

SOURCE National Federation of the Blind