Congressman Markey Demands Internet-Video Captions For Hard-Of-Hearing Web Surfers

Democratic US Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is backing a bill that would require major producers of web videos to provide captioning, a piece of legislation that provides many other benefits for people with hearing, vision and other disabilities.

Markey is one of the most senior legislators in Congress and a leader in shaping the nation’s telecommunications policies. When he puts his whole weight behind a piece of communications legislation he usually gets it passed. So my recent cry for more web captions has been answered from on high! Federal legislation might also help motivate more standards for web-video formats, especially captioning, which still requires some work. Another element of the legislation would require that phones used for Internet calls (voice over IP calls) be compatible with hearing aids in the same way regular phone equipment now must work with hearing aids. For more on this landmark legislation, read today’s Boston Globe article. I’ll be tracking this one closely.