The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sent a letter to the House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith and Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. opposing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA is currently under consideration in Congress which may impede efforts to increase captioning and access to online videos.
SOPA intends to combat the dissemination of pirated copyrighted content on the Internet, such as Hollywood videos published online without permission. It allows private parties to cut off payments and advertising services without court review to websites it suspects is illegally showing copyrighted contentment on its website.
We believe that SOPA may cause website hosts to avoid allowing the adding of captions to videos. This chilling effect would mean less captioned online videos for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
We respectfully ask that the House not pass this bill unless it is narrowly tailored to combat actual copyright infringement and exempts any efforts to increase accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Click here [2]to read the NAD letter.
Links:
[1] http://www.nad.org/users/shanefeldman
[2] http://www.nad.org/sites/default/files/2011/November/SOPA%20Accessibility%20Letter%20from%20NAD%20Nov%202011.pdf
[3] http://deaf.disqus.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nad.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F11%2Fnad-concerned-about-effect-stop-online-piracy-act-closed-captions