FCC Disability Advisory Committee Voices Concerns on IP CTS Rules
The Disability Advisory Committee approved a resolution Wednesday at the FCC asking the regulator to pause before issuing a public notice indicating the telecom relay service user registration database (URD) is ready to receive user registration information. Commissioners approved an order a year ago integrating IP captioned telephone service into the URD, with data submission and verification rules largely aligned with those for video relay service (see 1902140032). A Further NPRM approved then proposes to require IP CTS providers to add user account identifiers to call records submitted for compensation.
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DAC recommended a two-year period to register existing users after the IP CTS URD activation date. It sought “a clear and straightforward outreach and education campaign to inform consumers about the … process and requirements" to use the service.
The FCC should do a rulemaking on what's valid identification, DAC said. Consider making it easier to register, and allowing expired ID documents, including driver’s license, passports and military and state-issued IDs, DAC said. DAC also sought other changes to the program aimed at easing registration.
The DAC resolution also seeks changes to how the privacy of users is protected. The FCC should require that data is stored only as long as necessary to fulfill the requirements of the URD, and that records are destroyed immediately thereafter, DAC said.
“You’ve done a very good job of laying out the issues so that someone approaching it can get a really good sense of what the issues are,” said Timothy Creagan, DAC member from the U.S. Access Board. “The document’s emphasis on the supporting materials that are used to qualify people for this program is an appropriate emphasis and it is something that we in government also deal with.” Creagan noted all levels of government require some ID and those standards are becoming stricter.
“IP CTS is a civil right and as a civil right we shouldn’t be making [users] jump through so many hoops,” said Lise Hamlin, DAC member representing the Hearing Loss Association of America. “We can still make sure these people have valid ID, they’re a real person, they’re not trying to defraud the system … but we don’t want to deny people a civil right.”
DAC member Jeff Rosen, representing Convo Communications, said the group should also focus on compensation issues. “Through our experience with URD we have serious concerns about the compensation process, and we think that that is a key part of the URD,” Rosen said. The process is “broken at the moment,” he said: “This is certainly an unresolved issue that I wanted to put forward.”