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

Fri Aug 15 02:32:26 UTC 2014

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> From: Fred Wurtzel via nfbmi-talk <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: August 9, 2014 at 8:53:35 PM CDT
> To: "NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] FW: [the-facts-machine] Mayday! Mayday! Tech IndustryLobbyists Threatening Future of Accessible TV
> Reply-To: Fred Wurtzel <f.wurtzel at att.net>, NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 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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