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ADA May Force Netflix To Provide Closed Captioning On Content
Shivetya writes "Last year Netflix was sued by the National Association for the Deaf for failing to provide closed captioned text through its on-demand streaming service. Now, a judge has denied Netflix's attempt to have the suit thrown out, saying that the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in any venue — not just physical structures. The easiest means to comply would be to remove all videos which do not have a closed captioning component, the other route would require Netflix to pay to have this done to any video it wants to provide. The implications to other providers is immense as well. The plaintiffs will still need to prove that Netflix is legally obligated to provide closed-captioning, but the ruling is still significant for recognizing that Internet sites may fall under the purview of the Americans with Disabilities Act."
And, believe or not, there's actually a movement against that. There are deaf people that want deaf children, and want them to remain deaf. I'm a type 1 diabetic, and I can't imagine forcing that on a child. It makes like a pain in the butt.
I'm pretty sure you missed the entire point. The OP was asking what power congress has to CREATE the ADA, not what does the ADA do.
There's nowhere in the constitution that gives congress the power to regulate how private businesses operate. Some would say (not saying I do) that we should let economics figure this out. if there's money to be made, then companies will make it happen.
Anyways, I think that's what the real question was.
Oh yeah, my roomie regarded those implants as the enemy, and any deaf person who supported them as a traitor.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
They're not ripping DVDs. They're purchasing content from digital distribution houses such as Funimation, Weinstein, Dreamworks, Starz (well at least used to), etc.. The content provider would have to make the subtitles available to Netflix to push onto the stream. If they don't/won't then Netflix would be on the hook if they are legally recognized as a "multi-channel video programming distributor".
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
I used to be involved with ADA, and I believe the lawsuit will eventually fail. There are two components to ADA that they might go after, Telecommunications or Public Accommodation. However, The language of the law is pretty specific, and there's no way Netflix will fall under either of these categories. As many have already pointed out, Netflix losing would be a catastrophically slippery slope, and no court would initiate that without clear intent from Congress. Just because a case isn't summarily dismissed doesn't mean it will win, it simply means the judge believes it's worth hearing.
This is just a preliminary ruling. Netflix tried to have the suit dismissed, that didn't work, and now it gets tried on the merits.
At some point, the ADA runs into the First Amendment, which prohibits "forced speech". (Broadcast TV is a special case, because it involves publicly owned RF spectrum.) Book publishers aren't required to produce audio or Braille editions, or translations to another language.
Here's a hint:
The law cites the 14th amendment (equal protection) and the commerce clause.
Damn, I swear you are now my textbook example for http://xkcd.com/386/ .
Cable is regulated because it's not all a local coax - much of the system is distributed over satellite, etc, which the FCC regulates.
VHS uses line 21 VBI CC (ie just analog NTSC 480i and totally irrelevant), DVD uses bitmap images (a horrible format for streaming, and those are subtitles not closed captions anyway), and BD subtitles are way overcomplicated for streaming use. And that's all beside the point, since Netflix doesn't get their streaming from any of those, they get MPEG files from the content providers. Now they are going to have to go get CC/subtitle info from all of those providers in a big clusterfuck of content management.
Given companies like Netflix already have literally 100's of thousands of encoded and encrypted streams already on CDNs, they can't just "dump" anything to a stream. They will all be coming up with ways (some standard most somewhat proprietary) of taking CC from the content providers, sending it as separate requests (likely HTTP) and displaying it on devices. And given the FCC is basically requiring CEA-708 feature set compliance (along with the fact these services are on dozens or hundreds of devices with vastly different software), that's going to be a shit-ton of work.
Or you could simply be a real parent and not tolerate misbehavior. My parents just told me to shut the hell up when it was inappropriate to make noise.
My spoon is too big.
Unfortunately deaf pride or whatever you want to call it is a very prevent and prominent culture in many primarily deaf settings. The local school was protesting hearing teachers even with implants. They are pushing for laws to prevent implants to those unable to consent (effectively making it a mute point as you cant wait till 18 to decide the nerves do atrophy). It's pushed pretty heavily by some deaf teachers to impressionable young children under there care. I guess it's not different that other teachers choosing indoctrination of other political agendas as part of there teaching.
No sir I dont like it.
You got me. I'm a horrible parent by letting my 2, 6, and 8 year old laugh and enjoy movies at home.
I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.