[real-eyes] Fw: FCC Proposes to Update Rules Allowing Accessibility to Advanced Communications for 54 Million Consumers with Disabilities
- From: "Reginald George" <sgeorge@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 04:16:47 -0600
FCC Proposes to Update Rules Allowing Accessibility to Advanced Communications
to 54 Million Consumers with DisabilitiesThis was posted to several other
lists. I repost it here with my comments.
Apple Computer has set the bar in this area IMO, buy accurately reading the
future, and building universal design into their products from the ground up.
They should be commended and supported by disabled consumers everywhere. If we
want to truly make a difference we need to take advantage of these comment
periods to the F.C.C. and let our voices be heard. We have never had a
commission in office that is so responsive to our needs. They appear to truly
understand the importance of giving everyone a level playing field when it
comes to communication and access to the public networks of this country.
These are game changing pieces of legislation. We have an unprecedented
opportunity here to make a difference that may never come again.
Respectfully:
Reginald George
Adaptive Technology Specialist
Kansas City Missouri
816-200-1064
adapt@xxxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: White House Disability Group
To: jasmurphy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 4:58 PM
Please circulate so everyone will have a chance to participate in the process.
Washington, D.C. â?? As part of its ongoing efforts to implement the
â??Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010â??
(CVAA), the Federal Communications Commission issued three Notices of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRMs). The CVAA is considered the most significant piece of
accessibility legislation since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities
Act in 1990. The CVAA has modernized existing communications laws to ensure
that people with disabilities are able to share fully in the economic, social,
and civic benefits of broadband and other 21st century communication
technologies.
The first of the three FCC CVAA-related NPRMs approved by the Commission seeks
to ensure that the 54 million individuals with disabilities living in the
United States are able to fully use advanced communications services, equipment
and networks. Section 255 of the Communications Act now requires
telecommunications and interconnected VoIP manufacturers to provide such
access. The NPRM seeks to ensure that when Section 716 is implemented, it will
fully complement Section 255. Until now, people with disabilities often have
not had full access to the benefits of rapid technological changes in advanced
communications. Wireless handsets have evolved into multi-media devices
capable of accessing the Internet, sending e-mails or text messages, and
enabling video conversations.
The Advanced Communications Services NPRM seeks comment on the following:
â?¢ How should the FCC implement the requirements of Section 104 of the
CVAA, which creates new sections 716 and 717 of the Communications Act? It is
essential that the Commission ensure that manufacturers of â??advanced
communications servicesâ?? (ACS) equipment make their devices and products
accessible to people with disabilities. In certain cases where manufacturers
cannot achieve compliance by making their products or services accessible, they
must ensure that their equipment and services is compatible with assistive
technologies used by people with disabilities.
â?¢ Are there steps that the Commission should be taking to enhance its
enforcement and recordkeeping procedures for manufacturers and providers, under
Sections 255 and 716? The CVAA directs the Commission to implement new
procedures in this area under Section 717.
â?¢ With section 718 taking effect in 2013, what steps can the
Commission and stakeholders take to ensure that ACS manufacturers and service
providers are working to make mobile phone Internet browsers accessible to
people who are blind or visually impaired?
The FCC approved a second NPRM that seeks comment on reinstatement and
modification of the video description rules originally adopted by the
Commission in 2000. Video description is the insertion of audio-narrated
descriptions of a television program's key visual elements into natural pauses
in the program's dialogue. This feature makes television programming more
accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired by providing them with
essential information that is otherwise conveyed to the audience only visually.
This NPRM would reinstate the Commissionâ??s video description rules that were
previously overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals more than a decade ago. The
enactment of the CVAA in 2010 provided the Commission with ample authority for
the reinstatement of these rules.
As directed by Congress in the CVAA, the proposed rules would require:
* Large-market broadcast affiliates of the top four national networks and
large multichannel video programming distributors (â??MVPDsâ??) to provide
video description;
* These broadcasters to provide 50 hours per quarter of video-described
primetime or childrenâ??s programming, with affected MVPDs providing the same
amount on each of the five most popular non-broadcast networks; and
* All network-affiliated broadcasters and all MVPDs to â??pass throughâ??
any video description included in network or broadcast programming they carry.
Live or near-live programming would be exempt from the proposed rules.
Finally, the FCC approved a third NPRM to implement Section 103(b) of the CVAA,
which mandates that the Commission extend participation in and contribution to
the Telecommunications Relay Service (â??TRSâ??) Fund to interconnected and
non-interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (â??VoIPâ??) service providers.
Although interconnected VoIP service providers already contribute to the Fund
under Commission rules, this would statutorily codify that practice, and
further extend this obligation to non-interconnected providers. The TRS Fund
compensates TRS providers for the costs of providing service to individuals
with hearing and speech disabilities.
Contributions to the TRS Fund are calculated on the basis of annual interstate
end-user telecommunications revenues. There is a â??safe harborâ?? provision
that permits interconnected VoIP providers to calculate their contributions on
the basis of actual revenues or a traffic study, or to rely on a â??safe
harborâ?? provision that allows them to consider 64.9% of their revenues to be
interstate telecommunications revenues.
The TRS Fund NPRM seeks public comment on the following:
* Should the safe harbor provision extend to non-interconnected VoIP
providers?
* What revenues should be included in calculating TRS contributions, i.e.,
just revenues from interstate end-user calls or revenues from all sources?
* Should the FCC require VoIP providers that offer services for free and
have zero end-user revenues to make any contributions to the TRS Fund?
Action by the Commission March 2, 2011, by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC
11-37, FCC 11-36, FCC 11-38) respectively. Chairman Genachowski, Commissioners
Copps, McDowell, Clyburn and Baker. Separate Statements issued by Chairman
Genachowski and Commissioner Copps. Docket Nos. CG 10-213, MB 11-43, CG 11-47.
For more news and information about the FCC please visit: www.fcc.gov
<http://www.fcc.gov/>
The White House · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW · Washington DC 20500 ·
202-456-1111
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
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