Complaint Filed Against Sorenson
Three Video Relay Services [VRS] companies – Purple Communications, SnapVRS and CSDVRS has filed a complaint with the Federal Communicatons Commission [FCC], against Sorenson Communications, Inc.
They are requesting that the FCC order Sorenson to halt their alleged non-compliance with the 10 digit number mandate, and degradation of service quality. In their legal brief to the FCC, they state the following:
Sorenson has knowingly and willfully taken action to degrade its videophone [VP] equipment’s ability to fully connect with the services and equipment of other providers. Sorenson’s actions are plainly anti-competitive and, and among other things, present a serious risk to the ability of providers effectively to connect consumers to emergency services.
They accuse Sorenson of hiding the Caller ID in proprietary and non-standard data, to ensure that only Sorenson will get the Caller ID.
In addition, called parties from the Sorenson VP do not receive caller ID — even when making a VRS call through Sorenson — the lone exception being when there is a point-to-point call between two Sorenson VPs.
What does this mean? It means two things – other VP users and VRS providers will only be able to see the IP address, not the 10 digit number. By allegedly doing this, Sorenson is preventing the deaf consumers of having equivalent access to telephone features that hearing persons are able to use. Furthermore, this also means that when Caller IDs are not shown to other VRS providers (that are not Sorenson), this will cause potentially delayed and even refusal of 911 calls.
If true, this not only violates the FCC’s mandates, but also violates the American Disabilities Act and puts VRS users at risk.
The three VRS companies believe Sorenson is deliberately doing this based on two reasons:
- Sorenson is allegedly hiding the Caller ID in proprietary and non-standard data.
- Sorenson has ignored repeated requests for clarification from other companies on this matter, with the exception of responding once, pointing to a still pending proposal, ‘Relay Provider Interface’.
In the legal brief, the plantiffs state that while it is true that the proposal will resolve this matter, it is still awaiting FCC’s response. The VP consumers cannot afford delays on the Caller ID matter, especially when it comes to being able to make emergency calls.
Not only that, but ironically in response to the plantiffs’ concerns, Sorenson clearly exhibited knowledge of industry standards and protocols, which gives them no excuse for not complying.
This is going to be very interesting to watch as it unfolds. If the allegations are true – which I believe to be – their conduct is absolutely deplorable and not only does Sorenson deserve this complaint, but they also deserve a mass exodus of their consumers.
Note: I contacted Sorenson this morning asking for comments on this. So far I have not gotten any.
UPDATE: Sorenson responded to my email and said they had no comment on this matter.
A Letter To Me
My parents just gave me my childhood documents for me to decide whether I wanted to keep them or not. The majority of the files were educational in nature, but a solid percentage of the files were legal documents. As many of my regular blog readers know, as a child I was involved with a lawsuit against the public schools to provide me with a qualified American Sign Language interpreter. The story, “Mom’s Gone Fighting The Deaf Wars” is chronicled here.
As I went through the files, I found a letter addressed to me from our attorney, Kary Love. I don’t remember reading this letter when I first received it, but as I read it again as an adult sixteen years later, there are no words for me to describe how deeply powerful this letter is. Thank you Kary, for writing this letter.
Dear Jeannette:
It was very nice to see you again at the hearing. I understand from speaking with your mother that you were not too happy about having to testify again. I wanted to write to you to let you know that, no matter how the case turns out, it was important for you to take a stand. The Special Education laws come from a famous Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education. This case established the legal principle, based on the Constitution, that all people are entitled to an equal opportunity for a public education. In that case, black people successfully challenged “separate but equal” schools based on race.
In your case, you are standing up for the principle that deaf students are entitled to an equal opportunity for education by being afforded interpreters who can make their time in school meaningful. Since you are bright and can excel in school, you have a special responsibility to assert your rights, not only for your own benefit, but to advance the rights of all disabled kids many of whom cannot stand up for themselves.
By doing this, you become one of many Americans who have sacrificed to make the Constitution a living, meaningful “supreme law of the land.” Those who went before you suffered embarrassment, harassment and even were jailed before the laws protecting equal rights were adopted. You have continued their fight, and made their sacrifices worthwhile, by not letting the laws they fought for be stripped of meaning. I know it was hard, but as I am sure your parents have told you, most things worth achieving are hard. Keep up the good work.
Very truly yours,
Kary Love
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Copyright ©Jeannette Johnson of The Deaf Edge, 2009. All rights reserved.
Twisted Irony
For those who follow the news, it’s impossible to escape any news story about Rod Blagojevich, the Governor of Illinois who was impeached yesterday by the Illinois House. The more the news expose him, the more unbelievable how corrupt this guy is.
On September 12, 2007 Governor Blagojevich signed Illinois Senate Bill 259, which established statewide licensing standards for registered interpreters for the deaf.
Then it was publicized on CNN and on some media outlets this week that Blagojevich hired a woman to interpret for the deaf, when her only experience was a one-week class in sign language when she was in grade school.
Talk about twisted irony…!
