Americans with Disabilities Act of 1996 (ADA):

Because it is not limited to government agencies, the ADA will perhaps have the most far-reaching effect of any legislation. The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in a number of arenas, including private employment, government agencies, telecommunications, and all places of public access. In fact, it explicitly requires, baring undue hardship, all private businesses employing at least 15 individuals to make their information technologies accessible. Not surprisingly, the ADA has been extended to the Internet and the World Wide Web as areas of public access. And the U.S. Justice Department has published Standards for Accessible Design as part of the ADA. Suits citing the ADA have already been filed against AOL for having an inaccessible browser in 1999 and against the Connecticut Attorney General's office and four online tax filing services (CiocCia, HDVest, H&R Block, and Intuit). Agreements were reached in these cases, as was one in which the Bank of America agreed to make its online banking services and Web site, as well as its ATM's, accessible. Clearly, the ADA has implications for all Web sites, Web-based applications, and information technologies.