Does netvlix offer DVS? I didn’t think it did
even on movies that have it.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Denny Huff
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 10:37 AM
To: Missouri-L
Cc: Adaptive technology information and support.
Subject: [ATI] Article from Boston Globe Friday, June 22
US judge rules Netflix subject to disability act By Hiawatha Bray Globe Staff
June 22, 2012 A federal judge in Springfield has ruled that Netflix and other
online providers that serve the public are subject to federal disabilities
laws, a decision that could require TV shows and movies streamed over the
Internet to include captions for the deaf or other accommodations. On Tuesday,
US District Judge Michael Ponsor rejected Netflix's argument that it is exempt
from the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. He declined to dismiss an ADA
lawsuit against Netflix for failing to provide captions on much of the content
it streams to subscribers. Web-based businesses did not exist when the
disabilities act was enacted in 1990, the judge wrote, but the US Congress
intended the law to adapt to changes in technology, and it should apply to
websites. The complaint was filed by the National Association of the Deaf, the
Western Massachusetts Association of the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, and Lee
Nettles, a staffer at the Stavros Center for Independent Living in Springfield.
Nettles said Netflix discriminates against the hearing-impaired, forcing them
to to avoid its streaming service and pay for more expensive DVD rentals to
ensure the movies and TV shows they rent are equipped with captions. It has to
be equal accessibility to all people using it," he said. It has to be 100
percent equality. Ponsor's decision cleared the way for the lawsuit to proceed.
In a society in which business is increasingly conducted online, excluding
businesses that sell services through the Internet from the ADA would 'run
afoul of the purposes of the ADA,' " he wrote. Online is a place," said Wendy
Parmet, professor of law at Northeastern University and a specialist on
disability law. Virtual spaces are spaces. Netflix said it would not comment on
an ongoing legal matter. The company can appeal the ruling. Under Ponsor's
reading of the law, all Internet businesses must add features that make their
sites usable by people with disabilities, said Peter Blanck, professor of law
at Syracuse University and a disability rights advocate. The law requires that
there is full and equal enjoyment of services offered by a commercial entity,"
Blanck said. Ponsor did not rule on the merits of the case itself, which must
now be argued in court. But in refusing to dismiss it, he backed the concept
that Internet-based businesses must make themselves as accessible to people
with disabilities as brick-and-mortar companies. The ADA is a designed to give
equal rights to people with disabilities. It prompted wide-ranging changes in
workplaces and public structures, from the construction of
wheelchair-accessible ramps to a ban on employer discrimination against
disabled workers. Arlene Mayerson, directing attorney of the Disability Rights
Education and Defense Fund, a California advocacy group that is working on the
Netflix case, said the court ruling was "making sure the ADA stays relevant by
moving it into the 21st century. But the high cost of adding accessibility
features to all online entertainment services could pose an undue burden on
Internet companies and lead to reduced choices for consumers, said Walter
Olson, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in
Washington. This forces Netflix to serve markets that it currently doesn't find
profitable to serve," said Olson, and could prompt online video companies to
refrain from stocking obscure and unusual films, to avoid the expense of adding
subtitles to movies that few customers will want to see. The Caption Center at
Boston public television station WGBH has subtitled thousands of films and TV
shows, according to Larry Goldberg, WGBH's director of media access. Goldberg
said it costs $400 to $800 to add captions to a movie from scratch. On the
other hand, many movies shown on Netflix have already been captioned by the
film studios. Adding captions to the Internet streaming version of a film or TV
program could cost Netflix $200 or less, said Goldberg. But the implications of
the judge's decision go beyond captioning. For example, WGBH also pioneered the
concept of descriptive video - a supplemental soundtrack which is used to
describe on-screen action for the sight-impaired and another example of the
kind of feature websites could eventually be required to offer. The current
case against Netflix does not mention descriptive video, but Steven Rothstein,
president of the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, thinks that the law
should mandate that online enterprises serve the blind as well as the deaf.
They're under no obligation to provide movies to people who are blind today,"
said Rothstein. They should be. Syracuse professor Blanck said that making
websites more accessible to people with disabilities will actually help
businesses, by giving them access to millions of new customers. I think this is
a matter of corporate survival," he said. But he said that Tuesday's ruling
settles nothing. Different jurisdictions have taken a different approach to
this question," he said, citing a California federal court ruling that the
disabilities act applied only to online companies that also had physical
locations. This case is almost certainly not the last word," said
Northeastern's Wendy Parmet. I think it's likely at some point that this issue
will get to the Supreme Court. Hiawatha Bray can be reached at [email protected].
_______________________________________________
ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.)
A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind
http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
