[tabi] Re: US Residents--Stop Tech Lobbyists from Scuttling Accessible TV; AFB will Help You Respond!
- From: "Chip Orange" <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 11:09:15 -0400
Matt,
If you don't start demanding your rights from this first group of
electronics manufacturers, I think we'll never end up getting them in
everything we all want. So please write.
Thanks Jim for posting this.
Chip
-----Original Message-----
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Matthew Presnell
Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 5:49 PM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tabi] Re: US Residents--Stop Tech Lobbyists from Scuttling
Accessible TV; AFB will Help You Respond!
well. I would just be happy if I could just read the menu on the TV it
self! I would just be happly if I could read the menu on cable and sat
boxes and be able to pick a channel out to look at and know what is
coming on that channel! All though TV Guide does make a very
accessible app for the iphone,ipod touch, and ipad models. This does
really help but it would be niceto be able to just use the TV remote
and find what you want! But it would be nice also to have a accessible
DVD player and such as well! But more inportant than that would be to
have accessible washing machine and dryer and dishwasher and so on! I
would rather have them first before accessible TV . JMT
Matt
matt.from.florida@xxxxxxxxx
On 7/29/13, K4NKZ Jim <k4nkz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Below is an important message from the American Foundation of the
Blind
> (AFB). If you wish to respond, please send comments according to the
> instructions below,
>
> AFB DirectConnect Letterhead
> Mayday! Mayday!
> Tech Industry Lobbyists 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"!!!
> For further information, contact:
> Mark Richert, Esq.
> Director, Public Policy, AFB
> (202) 469-6833
> MRichert@xxxxxxx
> 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 forked-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@xxxxxxx
> 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@xxxxxxx
> 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.
>
> Ardis Bazyn
> "Make the Impossible Possible"
> For inspirational speaking, business coaching, or books:
> www.bazyncommunications.com
>
>
> --
> Have A Nice Day, From, K4NKZ Jim B.D.T.B.
>
> Check out the TABI resource web page at
> http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
> and please make suggestions for new material.
>
>
>
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Check out the TABI resource web page at
http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
and please make suggestions for new material.
if you'd like to unsubscribe you can do so through the freelists.org web
interface, or by sending an email to the address
tabi-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject.
Check out the TABI resource web page at http://acorange.home.comcast.net/TABI
and please make suggestions for new material.
if you'd like to unsubscribe you can do so through the freelists.org web
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