Closed Bug 281188 Opened 20 years ago Closed 16 years ago

FEMA.gov - Internet Registration - IE 6.0 Only

Categories

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: English US, defect)

Product:
Tech Evangelism Graveyard
Component:
English US
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: david, Unassigned)

References

(
URL
)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217 The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has a Web site for registering for disaster aid when a federal disaster is declared (cited URL). The site states "Technical Requirements: The Online registration requires Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 or above." Attempting to enter that site produces an error popup that says: "mwdz2w11 could not be found. Please check the name and try again." Spoofing IE 6.0 for Windows XP via the PrefBar extension allowed me to enter the site and begin registration for a disaster that damaged my home. Thus, FEMA is using a sniffer for no good reason. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: This is a U.S. government Web site. The service provided at this site is vital. I failed to complete registration for disaster aid only because the Presidential declaration of our disaster had not yet been implemented at the Web site.
FEMAWebmaster@dhs.gov I will send them a note.
Summary: FEMA Web Site IE 6.0 Only → FEMA.gov - Internet Registration - IE 6.0 Only
I think this bug can be confirmed. It is disgraceful that FEMA would not allow these distressed people to use any browser to get help. What about the Mac and Linux users? Perhaps we could organize a campaign to target all gov't agencies to change their ways and support web standards. See this link for more info: Want to file for aid online? Better run Windows - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9231271/
I should have been hounding them over this long before now. Sorry.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
It may be that this Web site is in violation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended through 1998), which requires federal Web pages to be accessible to the handicapped. That would mean this page (or equivalent) must be "viewable" with an audio browser, which usually requires that it comply with W3C specifications.
Given the current gulf coast situation, the severity is worse than normal. -> major
Severity: normal → major
Why not build in spoofing the user-agent header? Lynx (my favorite browser) and Opera (so someone tells me) allow this.
I don't like the concept of spoofing, as it only encourages the clueless browser-sniffers to stay clueless. It should be used only as a last resort, and shouldn't be encouraged.
reigsitration is now through http://www.disasterassistance.gov/daip_en.portal and seems to work, couldnt go through it all of course ...
marking fixed in that case
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 16 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Product: Tech Evangelism → Tech Evangelism Graveyard
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