Twenty disability advocacy groups that represent the deaf and hard of hearing communities joined the growing call in the telecommunications world to mandate that emergency alerts (a tool of the Emergency Alert System or EAS) appear on wireless devices and entertainment streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. The push for updates to the EAS came in the form of official comments on the FCC’s recent inquiry into how to improve the nation’s EAS. The groups pushing for reform included Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, AccesSOS, American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, and the Clear2Connect Coalition.
The inquiry and subsequent comments come on the heels of an FCC forum held on December 2, 2021, to discuss the accessibility of video programming delivered through online platforms. The topic that seemed to dominate that forum was the Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA) and the importance of taking the reforms that have been adapted for television programming and extending them to Internet content as streaming services increasingly become the dominant platform for video programming and viewership.
Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing were not the first to sound the alarm so to speak on this particular issue; it was a topic of much debate in the telecom world in early 2021 with many in the industry agreeing that as the way media are consumed changes, so must the way the public receives emergency information. Indeed, while this shift will certainly make the EAS more accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing communities who rely heavily on the internet for communication (versus their living room television), given that most Americans are “cord-cutters” in some way, this shift will make emergency alerts more accessible to everyone.
However, even though the shift is extremely logical and grows more necessary by the day as the way Americans consume media shifts away from network television to streaming services, many in the industry balk at the idea, citing cost and necessity. Opponents to the shift argue that emergency alerts via mobile phones are sufficient, making EAS via streaming unnecessary. They also argue that the amount of people the shift might reach is cost-prohibitive and that it might be particularly challenging to focus emergency alerts to specific geographic areas (think tornado warnings, etc.) as streaming services cast are national, not regional in nature.
Yet proponents of the change would argue that accessibility is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so there is no cost that could be prohibitive in making this crucial public service available to all. And that the shift is indeed necessary even considering the ubiquity of mobile phones for the simple reason that, from an accessibility standpoint, it’s simply unrealistic to expect deaf and hard of hearing people to receive visual alerts (in lieu of audible ones) in a timely fashion via only a mobile phone. But what is more realistic is that many of us, including the deaf and hard of hearing, are likely to have some sort of media in eyeshot most of the time whether it be Netflix, a workout video, or our computer work screen.
With loud voices on both sides of the argument, it will be up to the FCC to decide the path the government will take regarding streaming services, the Internet, and the EAS. Currently, the FCC is under orders from Congress to report back on the feasibility of extending the EAS mandate to streaming services given their rise in popularity. The call for EAS reform came in part as a result of the EAS emergency that never was, the now infamous errant emergency alert in Hawaii back in 2018 that had islanders panicking after a ballistic missile alert was mistakenly sent out. Following this, and the acknowledgment that extreme weather events will become more commonplace as climate change becomes a part of daily reality, the FCC was directed by Congress to study improvements to the EAS as part of defense appropriations legislation.
Disability advocates, as well as players inside the industry, look on anxiously knowing that the FCC report will inform which direction the government takes in its approach to the Internet. The jury is still out on many questions regarding the FCC and the internet, including the approach to the EAS, but also:
Experts warn some caution in reading too much into the FCC’s report, however. The FCC is not necessarily looking to push its jurisdiction into regulating Internet content, they are simply tasked with turning their report over to Congress for now. But still, new legislation could crop up down the road as a result of the FCC’s report. Here’s hoping that the FCC acknowledges and dutifully considers the input from the various disability advocacy groups when it eventually does make its recommendations about EAS to Congress.