Netflix & Other Companies Face Yet Another Lawsuit Over Captions

[dixiegrrrrl]

Despite promising to caption 80% of streaming titles by the end of the year, Netflix is facing another lawsuit according to a press release filed by deaf activist John F. Banzhaf. The lawsuit was filed against Netflix, TiVo, Apple, Panasonic & Toshiba:

".........willfully refusing to provide closed captioning on most of the programs it transmits over the Internet constitutes illegal discrimination against the handicapped by denying the deaf “full and equal enjoyment” of its goods and/or services in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act, the toughest anti-discrimination law in the U.S.

If convicted, Netflix would have to add closed captioning to virtually all of the movies, TV shows, and the other programming it provides over the Internet to customers; a tremendous benefit not only to the deaf, but also to the much larger number of customers who are older or otherwise simply hard of hearing, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who has filed more than 100 successful complaints against discrimination based upon race, sex, country of origin, and disability."

http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2011/10/netflix-other-companies-face-yet-another-lawsuit-over-captions.html#comments