Technologie i telekomunikacja · 05/02/2013

Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service; Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals With Hearing and Speech Disabilities

In this document, the Commission seeks comment on whether to make permanent, revise or eliminate its interim rules that: prohibit all referrals for rewards programs (as described in the synopsis below) and any other form of direct or indirect inducements, financial or otherwise, to subscribe to or use, or encourage subscription to or use of, Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS); require each IP CTS provider, in order to be eligible for compensation from the Interstate Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund (Fund or TRS Fund) for providing service to new IP CTS users, to register each new IP CTS user, and as part of the registration process, to obtain from the user a certification that the user has a hearing loss that necessitates IP CTS to communicate in a manner that is functionally equivalent to communication by conventional voice telephone users; and require IP CTS providers to ensure that equipment and software used in conjunction with their service have a default setting of captions off at the beginning of each call. The Commission also seeks comment on the following additional matters: the likely reasons that IP CTS has been experiencing unprecedented a