[nfb-talk] stop lobbyists from scuttling accessible TV equipment

[d m gina]

Well for ever more.
I hope that doesn't happen here, don't care for what all they show, 
where the news for me is good.

Original message:
> Right you all, but CBS is going away. ... At least on Time Warner 
> cable.  (smile.)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley 
> Bramlett
> Sent: Monday, August 05, 2013 8:37 PM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] stop lobbyists from scuttling accessible TV equipment

> Ray,
> Thanks. I wrote a  similar message before I read yours while checking 
> older email here.
> That's right. TV is alive and well, and will continue to flourish. Now, 
> analogue stuff like cassettes is going away, but not tv, cds, and dvds.

> Ashley

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Foret jr
> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 9:50 AM
> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] stop lobbyists from scuttling accessible TV equipment

> Got more news for you Josh.  Not everybody has access to the internet, 
> so, you see, TV is not going away like you think it is.  It's just 
> taking a different form.


> Sent from my mac, the only computer with full accessibility for the 
> blind built-in!
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray
> Still a very proud and happy Mac and Iphone user!

> On Jul 29, 2013, at 8:31 AM, Joshua Lester <JLester8462 at pccua.edu> wrote:

>> Wow!
>> I'm proud of Comcast!
>> I'm sad to see TV and radio going away.
>> Nowadays, we have satilite radio.
>> These manufacturers are crazy!
>> Why will they keep making TV's and CD players, when there's the
>> Internet and Idevices, but they won't continue making VCR's, Cassette 
>> players, etc?
>> Good grief!
>> Blessings, Joshua
>> ________________________________________
>> From: nfb-talk [nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Ray Foret jr
>> [rforetjr at att.net]
>> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 8:24 AM
>> To: NFB Talk Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] stop lobbyists from scuttling accessible TV
>> equipment

>> Got news for you.  That's not quite accurate.  Comcast is now at work
>> on software which will make all of it's X! set top boxes accessible for us.

>> http://digitaljournal.com/article/352483


>> Sent from my mac, the only computer with full accessibility for the
>> blind built-in!
>> Sincerely,
>> The Constantly Barefooted Ray
>> Still a very proud and happy Mac and Iphone user!

>> On Jul 29, 2013, at 8:09 AM, Joshua Lester <JLester8462 at pccua.edu> wrote:

>>> Who cares?
>>> TV is a thing of the past, and will be obsilete, in the near future,
>>> because of the Internet, which is accessible!
>>> Most stations are broadcasting online, and those that aren't will be
>>> soon.
>>> What's the big deal?
>>> What we need to focus on, is more audio description on all TV shows.
>>> Blessings, Joshua
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: nfb-talk [nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of
>>> ckrugman at sbcglobal.net [ckrugman at sbcglobal.net]
>>> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 8:01 AM
>>> To: NFB Talk; NFB of California List
>>> Subject: [nfb-talk] stop lobbyists from scuttling accessible TV
>>> equipment

>>> the following action may be of interest.
>>> Chuck

>>> Mayday! Mayday! Tech Industry Lobbyists Threatening Future of
>>> Accessible Television! With One Email, Tell Them and the FCC What You Think!

>>> !!!"This is not a test; this is an actual emergency"!!!


>>> For further information, contact:

>>> Mark Richert, Esq. Director, Public Policy, AFB
>>> (202) 469-6833 MRichert at afb.net

>>> Dear Advocate:

>>> When we all celebrated the enactment of the historic Twenty-First
>>> Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) almost
>>> three years ago, we were promised by our bipartisan champions on 
>>> Capitol Hill, by the U.S.
>>> Congress, and the President of the United States, that one day,
>>> things would be significantly different. We were promised that the
>>> experience of people with vision loss in terms of our/their
>>> independence and full participation in American life through the full
>>> and fair use of today's most ubiquitous technologies would be forever changed.

>>> We were thrilled to know that there would be much more video
>>> description available on TV, and indeed today there is. We were
>>> gratified to know that the manufacturers and service providers of
>>> some of the most commonly used communications technologies, such as
>>> electronic messaging and mobile phone web browsing, would no longer
>>> be able to ignore the needs of people who are blind or visually
>>> impaired. And we were hopeful that emergency alerts would finally be
>>> meaningful for our community, and it looks like they will be.

>>> But we were also promised, and the new law requires, that TVs and
>>> TV-like equipment would need to be fully accessible to us. Now, in
>>> what is essentially the proverbial eleventh hour in the series of
>>> federal regulatory proceedings implementing the CVAA, the seemingly
>>> shameless consumer electronics lobby is demanding, with implied
>>> threats to go to court if they don't get their way, to strip the CVAA
>>> of its TV accessibility obligations and to violate the vision of a
>>> more accessible technology society that the CVAA represents.

>>> So what do our tech lobbyist "friends" want?

>>> Well, to answer this question, you need to know just a little bit
>>> about how the CVAA works. the CVAA says that your cable or satellite
>>> provider needs to make the equipment, the settop boxes and other such
>>> devices they give you to get their programming, accessible to you upon 
>>> your request.
>>> While this is a good thing in comparison to how things have been, it
>>> is a compromise, and one that advocates reached with cable and
>>> similar providers as a condition for their willingness to allow the
>>> CVAA to become law. So, with regard to cable and satellite providers,
>>> they don't necessarily need to make all, or even most, of their
>>> equipment accessible as a matter of course; they merely have to
>>> accommodate your request for equipment you can use by providing you
>>> with something, even if it is not state-of-the-art.

>>> In contrast, the CVAA requires that TVs and TV-like equipment,
>>> essentially anything that receives or plays back video programming of
>>> any kind, a ton of very cool technology out there, must be accessible
>>> by default; TVs and TV-like equipment will only be allowed to be
>>> inaccessible in a given instance if, and only if, fairly strict legal
>>> exceptions apply. This means that, unlike the cable and satellite
>>> sector which may regularly traffic in inaccessible equipment so long
>>> as they can ultimately give us something we can use upon our request,
>>> makers of TVs and TV-like equipment are charged with the clear
>>> responsibility to fundamentally change their behavior in a way that
>>> would exponentially increase the commercial retail availability of
>>> the accessible and most popular video-related consumer electronics on 
>>> the market.

>>> Ok, but what are those lobbyists up to?

>>> With forked-tongued craftiness, the consumer electronics lobby is,
>>> even as we speak, assuring the Federal Communications Commission
>>> (FCC) of industry's commitment to the needs of people with
>>> disabilities while, without blushing, propounding some of the most
>>> contorted legal reasoning that we have seen yet. They are using the
>>> full weight of their over-indulged influence to pressure the FCC into
>>> applying the inferior, more limited cable and satellite requirements
>>> to TVs and TV-like equipment.

>>> If these "friends" of ours in the tech lobby get their way, rather
>>> than being able to shop for the digital TV or other video player you
>>> want and to have a robust array of choices just like everyone else,
>>> you will be forced to beg for an accessible product directly from the 
>>> manufacturer.
>>> Rather than being able to enjoy the product you want to buy, you may
>>> even be expected to live with an inferior model, if you can get an
>>> accessible inferior model at all. Why are the tech lobbyists
>>> proposing this manifestly unfair arrangement? quite simply, their
>>> scheme would let their client companies off the hook for doing the
>>> right thing but leave consumers with little recourse.

>>> What can you do?

>>> Right now, the FCC is accepting comments from the public about how to
>>> implement the CVAA's TV and cable and satellite equipment requirements.
>>> AFB will help you voice your concern if you will take just a moment
>>> or two and write your thoughts in an email to us; AFB will file your
>>> comments for you. No, AFB's name will not be on your comments; your
>>> comments will be your own. We are simply offering to make the process
>>> as easy for you as possible because this issue is so uniquely critical.

>>> The FCC's electronic comment filing system is not the easiest system
>>> to use, and any comments filed need to include certain technical
>>> legal references. Send an email to:

>>> TV at afb.net

>>> We will be glad to add the technical pro forma details for you and to
>>> submit your comments on your behalf for the official record.

>>> So what exactly do you need to do?

>>> All you need to do to help get things back on the right track is the
>>> following:

>>> 1: Write an email of whatever length you wish stating in polite but
>>> pointed fashion that begging for an accessible TV or similar
>>> equipment directly from a manufacturer is categorically unacceptable
>>> to you. Tell the FCC that it was the obvious intention of Congress,
>>> and it is the expectation of people who are blind or visually
>>> impaired across America, that accessible TVs and TV-like equipment
>>> will be readily and regularly available at commercial retail stores.
>>> Remind the FCC that the so-called "upon request" compromise that we
>>> reached with the cable and satellite industries neither involved the
>>> consumer electronics lobby at the time nor applies to their client
>>> companies now. Tell the FCC that people with vision loss will not
>>> stand for the consumer electronics lobby's proposed gutting of one of
>>> the most popular and important parts of the CVAA. Tell the FCC your
>>> own story of frustrations trying to simply adjust the volume or
>>> channels on your equipment, to simply play a show or movie, to find
>>> and activate your TV's video description controls, and to otherwise 
>>> make full use of your TV or TV-like equipment.

>>> 2: At the conclusion of the text of your email, be absolutely certain
>>> to type your first and last name, followed by your regular mailing address.
>>> When we properly format and file your comments, the FCC needs to know
>>> that you are a real person, and your comments must be accompanied by
>>> more than your email address; they must include a regular identifying
>>> mailing address. It is up to you to decide which of the addresses
>>> that you might be associated with you want to use, a home, work, or
>>> some other appropriate address. So long as your email includes both
>>> your full name and a real related address, your comments will be
>>> accepted as part of the official record. Don't worry about anything
>>> else; we will be sure to fill out the rest of the required
>>> information, such as the docket number for this proceeding and similar 
>>> formalities.

>>> 3: Between now and Monday, August 5, send your email to:

>>> TV at afb.net

>>> and simply begin the text of your email with the greeting, "To whom
>>> it may concern." A simple "Sincerely" or "Respectfully" at the
>>> conclusion of your message and before your full name and address will be fine.

>>> Once we receive your email, we will properly format it and submit it
>>> to the FCC. The deadline for all comments is Wednesday, August 7.
>>> However, given that we hope and expect that we will receive a
>>> considerable number of comments, please send us your email comments
>>> no later than Monday, August 5 or as soon as you possibly can.

>>> Thank you in advance for your advocacy, keep hope alive, and please
>>> share this call to action widely.

>>> This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from
>>> http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm
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