You said it all Amy, Well DONE BIG PAT on Judy!!!
Regards-
Susan

The new terms of use is not optional. This is legal. why? AT&T won a lawsuit in the supreme court that say contracts can include anti class action / litigation clauses and that it will uphold in court.

I don’t know how this will affect current class actions but there can be NO NEW class action.

Personally netflix should have been sued for lack of subtitles on streaming media because it goes through their service. and can be added to the content while it is in their possession.

dvd on the other-hand needs to be perused by the different publishers who make the dvd, netflix does not make the dvd, therefore they can’t add subtitles to the disk.

netflix was not just sued by deaf there is a case of netflix selling consumer private information. Also in past there was class action for netflix throttling streaming content on high users, in that case netflix lost.

This anti class action is about blocking all class actions regardless of type, so to be able to scam and violate consumers rights with no chance of having to face justice for their crime where the punishment matches the level of the crime.

Unfortunately this is something that needs to be fixed at the federal level by either making a new law that forbids the removal of class action among all consumer protection laws. OR amend the law which was affected by the AT&T supreme court ruling.

I tried going to my state representative to see if state law could be used to protect against it and the answer was no. They told me “The State of California Government” tried to enact a law, to put the teeth back into consumer protection laws, by re-adding class action, this was blocked by the federal government.

currently I been able to discover netflix, sony services, centurylink internet service, microsoft xbox include anti class action clauses

You need to contact your senators and representatives at the federal level to fix this. this can no longer be fixed in the court system because of the AT&T ruling by the supreme courts( 5 to 4 vote).

In a way, this is a lot like what happened to the American with disability act of 1990, where the supreme court took the rewarding of damages for wrong doing away for violations. it took a recent amendment to the law at federal level to put the teeth back in to the law.

Until we have “separation of government and big business” like “separation of church and state”. We the people are at high risk of loosing all of our constitutional and bill of rights and consumer protection when dealing with big business.

So what do we do about it?

Corporations such as Starbucks, Costco, Wal-Mart, Target, are free enterprise markets. That means they do not receive any Federal funding or grants. They are on their own. In addition to this, no taxes are applied on goods as they cross the borders. It is up the provinces and states to apply sales tax upon the products that the customers are buying. This creates less paperwork. That is good for Canada, Mexico and USA; it is especially good on saving trees (Yay, hands waving).

There is no Target stores in Canada until it has announced as of January 6, 2012; Target will implement 24 new stores (all in Ontario) and they are in the process to buy out Zellers stores as stated as in a previous report. Target purchased the leasehold interests of 189 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc., and plans to open 125 to 135 stores in Canada, the majority of which will open in 2013. (source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/target-unveils-first-24-canadian-stores/article2292381/ ). Target plans to open stores in the following locations in March/early April, 2013.

However, in contrast, Sorenson is a profit company but they still receive money from FCC for calls being made through VRS, I may be wrong. However, in reality, when we make a VP-to-VP calls . . . it is free because we are paying for the Internet services. However, making a VRS calls, the interpreters are paid with the Federal taxpayers money via FCC. But for support centers, located in Canada, providing tech support for Deaf Americans, who is footing the bill? If the technicians are Canadians at support centers are being pay with American’s money. Then the American money leaves the United States and stays in Canada. I have nothing against the Canadians. My wife is a Canadian and I am an American.

It just still begs the questions, where is the money going?

Already, my wife has met with our local MP Peter Julian a month ago and he has submitted a Private Members’ Business Motion, M-305. The Motion was submitted on January 26, 2012. Below, are the contents of the motion:

M-305 — January 26, 2012 — Mr. Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster) — That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) reverse the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s decision to end the Video Relay Service (VRS) trial program hosted by TELUS-Sorensen which covered the region of British Columbia and Alberta; (b) restore the VRS; and (c) immediately adopt VRS technology, in both official languages and in American Sign Language and Quebec Sign Language as needed, as an option for Canadian deaf persons who require services that facilitate phone conversations, in addition to the current text-based Message Relay Service.

You can find this on the Internet at http://peterjulian.ndp.ca/post/in-the-house-m-305-to-restore-vrs/pour-retablir-srv and on the House of Parliament at

http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1&DocId=5339485&File=11

You’re completely focusing on the wrong issue. Set Sorenson aside….because you’re going to have to fight NAFTA itself. That’s a big issue! I’m sure many people have tried. You can tell your MP to send Starbucks, Costco, Walmart, Target, etc, etc to go home too. Unfortunately then all the people that work there (Canadians) will be out of jobs….but who cares about that….your concern is only for the Canadian Interpreters that work at Sorenson….because the Deaf community thinks they OWN them.

In reality Sorenson Canada services Americans. If the call centres close here in Canada that means many Deaf Americans will not get good VRS services. Much longer hold times….because the US also has a shortage of Interpreters.

You seem very educated and articulate so instead of wasting an MP’s time on NAFTA or why Sorenson should leave Canada. Why don’t you spend it convincing the MP that the Deaf Community in Canada needs VRS, and then say Sorenson already has call centre’s set up here, they could provide the service immediately.

The Deaf community is wasting way too much time talking about Sorenson and not enough time being proactive about why they need VRS. Get VRS established first then worry about what Sorenson is doing.

If Sorenson happens to be the one that is the first provider of VRS services in Canada….I doubt the Deaf community will be complaining too long. Sorenson will have to hire tech support and intallers and those will be Deaf Canadians. In the end Sorenson could create a lot of jobs for the Deaf community here. Why don’t you just focus on the issue…that is VRS NOW!!

There has never been any abuse or false minutes recorded in ANY of the Canadian call centres. These occurances happened in US centres and only a few VI’s were involved. Just a few bad apples…..out of the hundreds of VI’s that work at Sorenson.

Sorenson set up in Canada because there was a shortage of VRS interpreters in the USA. Yes Canadian VI’s that work at Sorenson in Canada are providing VRS service to Deaf Americans. Canada has yet to set up VRS service, and I think most Interpreters that work at Sorenson in Canada hope that by them by Sorenson being here that it will speed up the process here. If it wasn’t for Sorenson a VRS trial would probably not have happened. I realize that there’s some negative comments towards Sorenson. Remember any VRS service is a business and that’s how it will be run. It’s not going to matter if its Purple, or any other VRS service or one set up in Canada it will be run like a business to make profit. Also, it would be nice to have a few VRS services set up in Canada, however keep in mind we may be a large country but we have a small population compared to the US. So we probably won’t see as many providers as the US. It’s just not feasible. I think Canadians just want the VRS service NOW!! So why not connect with Sorenson. Get VRS established and then worry about other providers.

You are vehemently against Sorenson, like those who are against Microsoft. I have been concerned about the market share of the Sorenson Company. I found, it is still far off having a controlling share of the market. Furthermore, Sorenson is giving a lot of money to the Deaf Community. How it compares to other VRS providers in this area escapes my knowledge.

The problem of availability of interpreters for community jobs varies in different locations, where draining interpreting resources may affect there. It is up to the interpreter’s ethics to avail themselves to VRS or to community interpreting. At Sorenson, interpreters bid for the time slots which are available after first booking the community interpreting hours, often only one week in advance. In the Boston area, there is not much of a problem of the availability of interpreting for the community and the numerous universities and community colleges here. Bostonian interpreters book their jobs for them first, then VRS for any unbooked time. I understand, VRS interpreters can be called off from VRS service in emergency situations, especially those who are certified to interpret in legal situations.

Hartmut

Hartmut

Abuse made by the Canadian call centers? What are they? Perhaps, the minutes charged to the FCC by them are calls made by the Canadian callers?

Hartmut