Saturday, March 6, 2010

FCC Ruling - VRS and the Freedom of Speech

The new FCC Ruling appears to directly infringe on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Freedom of Speech by limiting the their primary ACCESS to their FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT vehicle(VRS) to Communicate. Much of the discussion appears to be around Conference Calls and the content of those calls to prevent fraud. When does fraud prevention rules cross the line into civil liberties?

Click here first to read more about the FCC, VRS and the FCC Ruling before commenting on this blog.



Discussion
1) Freedom of Speech - Fist Amendment and Bill of Rights
2) Conference Calls (VRS versus Video Conferencing)
3) FCC Ruling and Conference Calls
4) Why do I care?

Freedom of Speech - First Amendment and Bill of Rights

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the Congress from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech and infringing on the freedom of the press. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

The legal protections of the First Amendment are some of the broadest of any industrialized nation, and remain a critical, and occasionally controversial, component of American jurisprudence.

Our Court system acknowledges that the 1st Amendment freedoms of speech and press were tied fundamentally to the ideas of liberty and due process in the 14th Amendment. Thus, the rights of free speech and press were viewed as part of an individual's liberty that, according to the 14th Amendment, could not be taken from any person without due process of law.

Our Freedom of Speech can be and has been regulated (e.g. criminalizing hate speech, prohibiting speech that presents a clear and present danger, establishing safe harbor time periods on TV, clamping down on speech that threatens the national security)

Freedom of speech in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and by many state constitutions and state and federal laws.


Conference Calls (VRS versus Video Conferencing)

Video Relay Service (VRS) Conference Calls utilize an Communication Assistant(Interpreter) for those participating on the conference call that are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. All parties (Hearing and Deaf/HH) dial into a common BRIDGE PHONE NUMBER (Conference Call Number) that Hearing people have been using in the work place for years. FCC regulations are clear that a valid VRS conference call must have both a Hearing and Deaf/HH participants. The purpose is to facilitate the communication between multiple Hearing and Deaf participants so the Deaf participants (Functional Equivalence through VRS) can communicate with the Hearing. The minutes where Deaf and Hard of Hearing participants are using VRS to dial into the Hearing Bridge number are reimbursable by NECA through FCC rules. The minutes by Hearing people who dial into the bridge are not reimbursable through NECA and are paid directly to the telecommunications carrier. Until Video Conferencing, VRS Conference calls was the only mechanism for Deaf/HH to have a productive group meeting, especially when the participants are located in various locations throughout the United States.

Video Conferencing is a new and very expensive technology to communicate. This new technology is used by VRS companies in the last year. Some very large corporations have been testing and implementing this new technology for the last few years. Bottom line, the difference between this technology and VRS Conference Calls is the ability to host a video conference that allows people to speak/Sign(ASL) in a group without using VRS. The majority of the costs of this technology is through the Internet bandwidth, hardware and software to enable each participant. Remember watching the "Brady Bunch" - the show displayed the whole family on the TV screen all at once. Just imagine 2 to 20 people on each of the participants video screen (monitor). If their is a hearing party on the video conference, then VRI services (Not Reimbursable by the FCC) can be used to bridge the communication betweeen the hearing participants and the deaf/HH participants.

A few VRS companies, have invested into Video Conferencing technology to enable their Deaf/HH employees to communicate ever since the September, 2009 FCC Ruling that All Deaf calls are non-reimbursable through VRS. This new tool allows video display of all the deaf participants to use ASL to communicate with each other. Through these advancement and learning from the traditional VRS Conference call with a bridge number, Deaf and Hard of Hearing along with Hearing individual have "formally" acquired a communication etiquette that now transfers directly to the Video Conference technology.

Now, through the two technology, business managers can now determine the best method to communicate based upon the participants and subject matter.


FCC Ruling and Conference Calls

VRS Conference Calls were a subject of large discussion on the determination to make Employee/Contractors non-reimbursable through the TRS funds.

Much of the discussion surrounding this decision appears to be on two major points:

1) There are a limited supply of interpreters. The fact that small VRS companies had to plan such calls to ensure they did not affect their customer ASA and subsequent Service Level Rules by the FCC (80% of all calls answered must be answered in less than 120 seconds - all calls offered include those abandon calls that could be less than 5 seconds) which could cause all minutes to be non-reimbursable.

2) The fact that the subject matter pertaining to Conference Calls may not have been business related.

Regarding number 1, this is an issue for smaller VRS company's with a small amount of interpreters while larger VRS company's with more than 75% of the market and a massive amount of interpreters along with large fluctuation's in call volume can easy absorb without planning. The fact that these small companies had to plan and execute under a schedule can be easily justified.

Regarding number 2, this is a in-direct attack on Deaf and Hard of Hearing ACCESS (ADA) to Freedom of Speech. To review call content and RESTRICT ACCESS by declaring what is reimbursable based upon employment is a in-direct violation of their rights. The whole purpose of the TRS fund that WE pay pennies at the end contributor level conflicts with this NEW FCC RULING. Many Hearing individuals talk about their lives, what is going on personally with work/home or just having a conversation of sharing and caring to build relationships in their environment AND IS NORMAL. To in-directly infringe on this right through restriction of use (non-reimbursable segregation) where interrogation or causing an interpreter to break their ethics in their occupation is unjust and inviolable.

Why do I care?

For Hearing People: Starting with Interpreters, we should recognize the importance of these individuals responsibility to maintain confidentiality of the people they serve. To put these important people in a position to even compromise the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is unethical. Turning an Interpreter into a JUDGE lacks good judgement by those who create policy and rules. Hearing individuals must realize that depending on the subject and participation of any conference call, the appropriate technology should be used and understood and applied. Hearing people will learn the frustrations that Deaf/HH have been experiencing for years by ensuring that the participants appropriately allow for proper dialog and rules in dialog.

For Deaf People: Do not be afraid to Speek and be heard through your common language of American Sign Language (ASL). Do not worry that you discussed football, basketball, volleyball or what is going on with your family when communicating with ANYONE ANYTIME. Hearing people, for many years, have discussed personal matters before business matters. Sharing jokes and other information that may not be ONLY business allow you to interact and belong to a community. By sharing more with your hearing friends, family and co-workers, you bring awareness and appreciation of your needs and our society in general.

For Society in General: By no means does this author believe that conference calls should be allowed to manufacture VRS minutes to purely bill the TRS Fund. It is important to understand this industry and the new technologies that have been created and provide ACCESS to communicate to advance our citizenship. This author also recognizes the importance of "NO TOLERANCE" for any infringement on Deaf and Hard of Hearing RIGHT to speek and speek freely through their FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT vehicle of VRS in their language of ASL to the Hearing.

THE FCC RULING INDIRECTLY LIMITS COMMUNICATION ACCESS BY DELCARING WHAT IS REIMBURSABLE! This ruling is disguised and justified by the FCC as Fraud Prevention.

Furthermore, the First Amendment does not say that VRS calls generated by the providers' employees and independent contractors have to be reimbursed by the Interstate TRS Fund. IT IS RECOGNIZED by this author to be a Reasonable Accommodation through ADA which is the very reason the TRS fund was established and WHY these calls should be reimbursed.

And finally, CONTROL LEADS TO FEAR. Employees are willing to perform their job well. It is fairly standard in all businesses/government to limit calls to work/business matters. Instead of worring about what calls they make they should be managed by objectives and goals along with improving their work. This should be no different with our Deaf and Hard of Hearing and is already imbedded in the culture.

From the FEBRUARY 25, 2010 NEW FCC Ruling, if the employer attempts to limit the calls of its employees to those pertaining to work/business matters, then the FEAR that is created in such a company policy can only build a culture of Fear and NO TRUST. Notwithstanding, the ridiculous attempt to define "work/business substance" (i.e. asking how the other party is doing is not business matters!).

To bring this full circle - FEAR was hand down by a CONTROLLING FCC RULE of ACCESS disguised as Fraud prevention which will then be handed down to VRS company's is the very reason for concern. The controlling nature of this cascading event disregards overall BIG PICTURE PURPOSE and GOALS. The FCC Ruling forces the "Controlling" nature of events causing a cascading limitation of Free Speech and reduction in overall American economy and productivity. The FCC Ruling is to prevent Fraud, not limit Free Speech, BUT the system all works together - VRS, ADA, Purpose of TRS Fund and Free Speech - therefore you must consider the impacts and purpose for all of these systems before creating such a FCC Ruling. Go back to the grass roots, start with Functional Equivalent Access under ADA that we who pay pennies to the Interstate Telecommunication companies would be happy to double, tripple or quadripple to ensure Deaf/HH are employed and productive in our society, have opportunities and seek further education and on and on and on.

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