[Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers for One Year
d m gina
dmgina at samobile.net
Mon Feb 10 03:12:24 UTC 2014
The first year on bookshare is $75 after that it is $50 unless you are
scanning books for them.
Original message:
> NLS and Book Share are free though. I love NLS but have not figured out how
> to get books from book share yet. I'm having trouble with the technology.
> It's so confusing.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmt [mailto:nfbmt-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dan Burke
> Sent: Sunday, February 9, 2014 3:46 PM
> To: NFB of Montana Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmt] FCC Chooses to Approve the Waiver for E-book Readers
> for One Year
> 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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>> --
>> Dan Burke
>> My Cell: 406.546.8546
>> Twitter: @DallDonal
> --
> Dan Burke
> My Cell: 406.546.8546
> Twitter: @DallDonal
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--Dar
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every saint has a past
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