On May 1, 2008, the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a hearing on draft legislation, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The goal of the legislation, drafted by Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), is to increase accessibility to new information and communications technology for persons with disabilities.

The legislation, requested by the Coalition for Accessible Technology (COAT), would establish new requirements for manufacturers and service providers, as well as for the FCC. A panel of six witnesses, representing the disability community and industry, gave testimony and answered questions on the draft bill. Witnesses included Russell Harvard, Actor; Dane Snowden, CTIA; Jamaal Anderson, Atlanta Falcons; Larry Goldberg, Media Access, WGBH; Ken Nakata, BayFirst Solutions; and Sgt. Maj. Jesse R. Acosta, U.S. Army.

All subcommittee members present agreed that technology has outgrown current regulations, but they differed on the best way to achieve the goal of the legislation, as did the witnesses. Harvard, Anderson, Goldberg and Acosta stressed the importance of utilizing specific technologies, such as Internet closed captioning, video description and real-time text, while Snowden and Nakata predicted the adverse legal implications of increasing the standard from “readily achievable” to “undue burden” and creating a private right of action. However, Markey was more concerned with an industry explanation as to why costs wouldn’t drop quickly if the bill’s requirements are imposed on mass-market products.

Snowden agreed to work with Congress in establishing deadlines and highlighted industry efforts for accessibility, such as universal design, the Internet Captioning Forum, and the variety of accessible features available today, including voice recognition and hearing aid compatibility (HAC). Products with these and more features will be displayed at the Disability Access Tech Fair, noted by Markey in the hearing. The Tech Fair is being organized through industry collaboration, including TIA, and will take place on May 16 in Room 2168, “The Gold Room,” Rayburn House Office Building.

For more information on the Tech Fair, please contact Becky Schwartz at +1.202.346.3248 or rschwartz@tiaonline.org.

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On Tuesday, May 6, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a hearing on HR 5353, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008, authored by Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.).

Testifying before the subcommittee were representatives from the Recording Industry Association of America; the National Cable & Telecommunications Association; US Telecom; the Writers Guild of America, West; Free Press; the Christian Coalition; University of Pennsylvania Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition; and Shoebuy.com.

The panelists were evenly split in their views of the legislation that would establish in law a national broadband policy that among other things, allows for freedom of the Internet for lawful purposes “without unreasonable interference from or discrimination by network operators” and then directs the FCC to commence a proceeding on broadband services and consumer rights, followed by public broadband summits across the country and a report back to Congress on the results of the study.

Industry representatives on the panel argued against the bill, stating that the Internet has developed as rapidly and as successfully as it has over the past decade due in large part to Congress’ decision to not regulate this technology. Statements were given using recent examples of alleged discrimination that is the subject of open proceedings at the FCC. Industry representatives responded, along with a University of Pennsylvania representative, arguing that the FCC’s process is sufficient, and the commission should be allowed to finish its proceedings before any legislation is considered. There was also support for the second half of the legislation which directs the FCC to commence a study of the issue and submit a report to Congress on its findings.

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