[nfbmi-talk] FW: [the-facts-machine] Mayday! Mayday! Tech IndustryLobbyists Threatening Future of Accessible TV

Fred Wurtzel f.wurtzel at att.net
Sun Aug 10 01:53:35 UTC 2014


 

 

From: the-facts-machine-bounce at freelists.org
[mailto:the-facts-machine-bounce at freelists.org] On Behalf Of Vickie
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2014 7:33 PM
To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org
Subject: [the-facts-machine] Mayday! Mayday! Tech IndustryLobbyists
Threatening Future of Accessible TV

 

Mayday! Mayday! Tech IndustryLobbyists 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"***

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 fork-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.

For further information, contact:

Mark Richert, Esq.

Director, Public Policy, AFB

(202) 469-6833

MRichert at afb.net




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