Hi Listers,
Check out this bill that is being looked at today in Congress. Take
action if you think its cool. I think it will effect the
accessibility issues across the board!
here is link to read more below and summery of bill.
http://www.icdri.org/News/Video_Accsummeryessib_COAT_PR.htm
Here is the summary of Congressman Markey's bill followed by the
actual bill.
Summary of DRAFT of the "21st Century Communications and Video
Accessibility Act"
Telecommunications technologies have a proven ability to empower
individuals with the necessary tools of the information age. These
technological tools can animate the personal use of communications for
work or enjoyment, but also impact health care delivery, educational
opportunities, the prospects for employment, and job creation. The
goal of the discussion draft of the bill is to establish new
safeguards for disability access to ensure that people with
disabilities are not left behind as technology changes and the United
States migrates to the next generation of Internet-based and digital
communication technologies.
Title I – Communications Access
Definitions. Section 101. – Adds definitions to the Act as follows:
- Disability – This has the same meaning as in the Americans with
Disabilities Act and Section 255 of the Communications Act.
- Interconnected VoIP Service – This definition has the same meaning
as in the FCC’s regulations.
- Internet-enabled communication service – This definition encompasses
interconnected VoIP service and includes transmission services that
have the purpose of conducting voice, text, or video conversations,
interactive voice response systems, and other similar communication-
based services.
Hearing Aid Compatibility. Sec. 102. – Extends federal law that
currently requires hearing aid compatibility on newly manufactured and
imported telephones, to comparable customer premises equipment used to
provide Internet-enabled communication service. The purpose of this
section is to make sure that people with hearing loss have access to
telephone devices used with advanced technologies, including cell
phones or any other handsets used for Internet-based voice
communications. (This section is not intended to extend to headsets or
headphones used with computers.)
Relay Services. Sec. 103. – This section clarifies that
telecommunications relay services (TRS) are intended to ensure that
people who have hearing or speech disabilities can use relay services
to engage in functionally equivalent telephone communication with all
other people, not just people without a hearing or speech disability.
It revises Section 225 of the Act, which has been interpreted at times
(by the FCC) to authorize only relay services between people with
disabilities and people without disabilities. This section also
expands the relay service obligations to all providers of Internet-
enabled communication services that provide voice communication.
Access to Internet-Based Services and Equipment. Sec. 104. – This
section builds upon authority contained in Section 255 of the
Communications Act, which generally requires telecommunications
service providers, as well as interconnected VoIP providers and
manufacturers, to make their services and equipment accessible to and
usable by people with disabilities. This section creates new
safeguards for Internet-based communication technologies (equipment,
services and networks) to be accessible by people with disabilities
unless doing so would result in an undue burden. Where an undue burden
would result, manufacturers and providers must make their equipment
and services compatible with specialized equipment and services
typically used by people with disabilities. The term “undue burden”
has the same meaning given it in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This section also contains a specific requirement for real-time text
support, to ensure that people with disabilities, especially
individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing or who have a speech
disability, are able to communicate with others via text in an IP
environment with the same reliability and interoperability as they
receive via the public telephone network when using TTYs. Finally, the
section contains measures to improve the accountability and
enforcement of these new disability safeguards, including reporting
obligations for industry and the FCC, directives for new FCC complaint
procedures, the creation of a clearinghouse of information on
accessible products and services by the U.S. Access Board and National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and
directives for enhanced outreach and education by the FCC and NTIA.
Universal Service. Sec. 105. – This section makes consumers with
disabilities – as a distinct group – eligible to receive universal
service support through two specific measures. First, it grants the
FCC authority to designate broadband services needed for “phone
communication” by people with disabilities as services eligible to
receive support under the existing Lifeline and Linkup universal
service programs. For example, this would include deaf individuals who
are otherwise eligible for Lifeline and Linkup support, but who rely
on Internet-based video relay services or point-to-point video for
their telephone communications. Second, it grants authority to the FCC
to designate programs that distribute specialized equipment used to
make telecommunications and Internet-enabled communication services
accessible to individuals who are deaf-blind, as eligible for
universal service support. Such support, however, is capped at $10
million per year.
Title II – Video Programming
Closed-Captioning Decoder and Video Description Capability. Sec. 201
–– This section expands the scope of devices that must display closed
captions under the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 from the
present requirement of television sets with screens that are 13 inches
or larger, to all video devices that receive or display video
programming transmitted simultaneously with sound, including those
that can receive or display programming carried over the Internet. The
section also requires these devices to be able to transmit and deliver
video descriptions. Video description is the provision of verbal
descriptions of the on-screen visual elements of a show provided
during natural pauses in dialogue.
Video Description and Closed Captioning. Sec. 202. – This section
reinstates the FCC’s modest regulations on video description. Those
rules, originally promulgated in 2001, were struck down by a U.S.
Court of Appeals for lack of FCC authority. This section also
authorizes the FCC to promulgate additional rules to (1) ensure that
video description services can be transmitted and provided over
digital TV technologies, (2) ensure that digital TV equipment can make
available the delivery and use of video description, (3) require non-
visual access to on-screen emergency warnings and similar televised
information and (4) increase the amount of video description required.
Finally, this section adds a definition for video programming to
include programming distributed over the Internet to make clear that
the existing closed captioning obligations (and future video
description obligations) contained in Section 713 apply to video
programming that is distributed or re-distributed over the Internet.
This section is intended to ensure the continued accessibility of
video programming to Americans with disabilities, as this programming
migrates to the Internet.
User Interfaces. Sec. 203.– This section requires devices used to
receive or display video programming, including devices used to
receive and display Internet-based video programming, to be accessible
by people with disabilities so that such individuals are able to
access all functions of such devices (such as turning these devices on
and off, controlling volume and select programming). The section
contains requirements for (1) audio output where on-screen text menus
are used to control video programming functions, and (2) a conspicuous
means of accessing closed captioning and video description, including
a button on remote controls and first level access to these
accessibility features when made available through on-screen menus.
Access Video Programming Guides and Menus. Sec. 204 – This section
requires multichannel video programming distributors to make their
navigational programming guides accessible to people who cannot read
the visual display, so that these individuals can make program
selections.
Chuck Reichel
954-742-0019
www.SoundPictureRecording.com
