[Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year

Sun Feb 9 22:45:42 UTC 2014

A follwo-up...

Here is a quote taken from the Kindle Store's own page:

... and over 23 million
books,
games,
apps,
movies and TV shows,
magazines,
songs,
and
audiobooks

... those are the numbers of things you can buy from Amazon for Kindles.

"By contrast, NLS's BARD services has yet to break 78,000 titles in
the ten years or so since they began to produce and distribute their
recorded titles digitally.  Bookshare, which has by far the largest
collection of accessible books in the US, has in its 12 years of
existence amassed 224,586 titles.  Kindle's offerings of actual book
titles may be substantially less than 23 million, but a couple of
sources found on Google suggest that it was probabably about two
million e-books in 2012 - two years ago, and growing exponentially.
The point of the numbers, of course, is that e-books for mainstream
consumption are exploding in availability.  Increasingly new books are
published in print and in electronic formats.  And all of those could
be accessible to us with minimal or no impact on the cost of their
production.  And for specialized electronic formats, the numbers of
titles grow at a glacial pace by comparison, and all with the help of
the taxpayers' money, though Bookshare also generates a substantial
amount of its funding from other, private sources.

And like Sheila, when my BookPort Plus bites the dust, I want to be
able to spend $60 or $70 for an e-reader.

Best,
Dan

On 2/9/14, Dan Burke <burke.dall at gmail.com> wrote:
> There was a comment period back in November or December.  There were
> e-mails to various of the NFB lists, though I can't remember for sure
> if there was one that went to all the lists, etc.  But the comment
> that there are so many things that fly by is a true one.  In any case,
> the NFB made comments and I put one in myself.
>
> The companies that wanted the exemption wanted it on a permanent
> basis, I believe.  Amazon, Sony and Kobo led the way on this.  Their
> claim was that they shouldn't have to be accessible on devices that
> are strictly readers, and don't have other functions, including
> internet browsing, e-mail and other social media like Skype and Face
> Book capabilities.  They are attempting to negotiate a narrow
> interpretation of the law.  I'm not sure that any device is so limited
> anymore, but that's the argument they made.
>
> Of course, these are the cheapest of devices.  Victor Streams and
> BookPort Pluses and Pockets, for example, all offer some wi-fi
> capabilities, but they too are limited to getting access to reading
> material; whether it's NLS books or Bookshare or NFB Newsline.  Yet
> they are all $300 or more.  As Sheila points out, most of the blind
> people in the US, with more than 70 percent unemployment, have
> difficulty getting these devices unless they are active VR clients in
> a training program.  And while I am a big fan of Bookshare and BARD,
> for example, I see that there are more and more new books coming out
> in e-book formats.  With the credo "What is born digital must be born
> accessible" on my tongue, I want to go out and get the book I want
> right when it comes out in an accessible digital format.  That is how
> the market is supposed to work, and does for anyone who is sighted.
>
> Hopefully, the extension of only one year may prove fruitful time for
> us in the NFB and others advocating for access to mainstream e-books
> and devices.  I don't know the whys or wherefores of this decision as
> yet.
>
> Best,
> Dan
>
>
>
> On 2/9/14, Breslauers <bjb5757 at bresnan.net> wrote:
>> I wonder what went into their decision. Was there a comment period that
>> we
>> missed?  It's hard to keep track of everything that affects our lives.  I
>> think it would be ideal to be able to work a mainstream product right out
>> of
>> the box with little or no adaptation necessary.  We do have access to
>> some
>> companies who cater to our needs, for a price, often one most individuals
>> can't pay.  And then there's the cost of upgrades and maintenance
>> agreements.  Whether we like it or not, we are a minority and our
>> spending
>> power and influence is limited.  Companies don't need us to succeed
>> financially, and they won't include us in their buyer base unless it's
>> the
>> law.  I'm disappointed in this decision because I don't see the sense of
>> it;
>> I don't know what they hope to gain by waiting a year.
>>
>> I remember in 1990 when I was laid off from AT&T along with about 120
>> thousand other workers, one of the supervisors said that we were a
>> minority
>> and, as such, the best ones to advocate for ourselves; no one else could
>> or
>> would do it for us as effectively.  That was right before the ADA went
>> into
>> effect.  That year the CEO was in the news bragging about how much money
>> they were saving by laying all these people off.  It is true that
>> technology
>> had improved enough by then that one automated computer could do the work
>> of
>> ten thousand operators, and that was a big savings for the company.  But
>> it
>> impacted all the lives that were laid off.  To put it in perspective, I
>> remember hearing about a protest that the telephone workers had in
>> probably
>> the early 1900s or so when they were introducing dial phones and wouldn't
>> need the operators to dial the numbers for people any more.  That laid
>> off
>> people, too.  Oh, the progress of progress.  Joy
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of sheila
>> Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 8:53 PM
>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>> Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
>> for One Year
>>
>> I agree completely dan When the kendle first came out and happened to be
>> featured on Oprah, I was thrilled until I found out the thing was
>> completely
>> inaccessable to me as a blind person. If my plextalk dies, I'll have to
>> save
>> money for a while before replacing it while it would be easier to come up
>> with a hundred dollars.
>> On 2/8/2014 6:59 PM, Dan Burke wrote:
>>> True, except that Kindle has tens of thousands more books than we can
>>> ever get on our Streams, and the e-book readers sold to the mainstream
>>> are about $100 or less, instead of $380.  I  want the free market that
>>> everyone else has access to.  I want to pay those same prices and get
>>> accessible mainstream readers and books.
>>>
>>> The FCC's decision is indeed a big disappointment..
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/8/14, Rebecca Stewart <becca33 at bresnan.net> wrote:
>>>> Well, that's bad news of course but it can only create more business
>>>> for companies who have chosen to cater to our needs, companies like
>>>> the one that makes the Victor Stream.  If these companies show a
>>>> great profit by catering to the blind, then other companies who are
>>>> not forced to will make the choice to become accessible in order to
>>>> get our business, that's how the free market works:)
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rik James
>>>> Sent: Friday, February 7, 2014 11:53 PM
>>>> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
>>>> Subject: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
>>>> for One Year
>>>>
>>>> Hello, list members. This is Rik.
>>>>
>>>> I read this as a bit of disappointing news. Maybe some of you already
>>>> had heard about it.
>>>> I found it as one of the items in Blind Bargains today, which is a
>>>> pretty neat place to find stuff for sale in addition to news bits, and
>> what not.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.blindbargains.com/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year
>>>>
>>>> Back in  August,  we told you about the Coalition of E-book Reader
>>>> manufacturers asking the FCC to waive the requirements to make their
>>>> basic e-book readers accessible. Then in  October,  we let you know
>>>> that a temporary waiver had been granted to the Coalition while the
>>>> FCC reviewed the case. Today, we're sad to announce that the FCC has
>>>> decided to grant the waiver, granting these companies the right to
>>>> not have to make their basic e-book readers accessible to people with
>>>> disabilities. According to the Digital Journal, here are some of the
>>>> requirements that the FCC laid out for which devices would qualify
>>>> for the waiver: the device must not have an LCD screen, the device
>>>> must not have a camera, and the device must be marketed as a reading
>>>> device. The waiver that was granted will last for one year.
>>>> Posted by Alena Roberts Sunday, 02-Feb-2014 2:02 PM ET in
>>>> Books/Movies/Music
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If your email is in rich text and not plain text then you can TAB
>>>> down to this link below and hit ENTER, and it should open the full
>>>> story in your
>>>> browser:
>>>>
>>>> FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers  for One Year
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>>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Dan Burke
> My Cell:  406.546.8546
> Twitter:  @DallDonal
>

-- 
Dan Burke
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal