The FCC, giving itself more time to act, issued...
The FCC, giving itself more time to act, issued a waiver until Jan. 28 so that e-readers’ advanced communication services offered in interstate commerce don’t need to be accessible if achievable for those ACS functions. Requiring such functionality would have…
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meant material that appeared on e-reader screens, which could include social and other online media functions, would need to be translated into speech so those with visual impairments could access them. The end-date of the temporary Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau waiver is 180 days after a public notice was issued responding to the request by a coalition of Amazon, Kobo and Sony, said a CGB order (http://bit.ly/HfpNQ6). Such ACS accessibility was required by Oct. 8 under previous commission rules, CGB noted. The agency didn’t act on the Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers’ request because the government was shut down at that deadline, waiver supporters and foes had said (CD Oct 15 p5). That date “was only three and a half weeks after the reply comment period” for the petition ended, said the CGB order released Monday and signed by acting Chief Kris Monteith. More time is needed “to review the record” and determine if the class of e-readers have features that access ACS but are primarily designed for other purposes, she wrote. The bureau said it needs to review market research and usage trends of similar equipment and services, how ACS functions in e-readers are designed to operate “outside of other functions or aids” to them, the duration of e-reader product cycles to determine how long a waiver would last if one is issued, and other things. The companies seeking the waiver and some of the request’s opponents had no comment.