Regulating VoIP for Accessibility

Computerworld - A decade after the Internet skyrocketed from obscure technology to household word, voice over Internet Protocol is following the same trajectory. Unlike the unprecedented and nearly regulation-free Internet, however, VoIP is a direct substitution for an existing and very heavily regulated technology: telephony.
VoIP allows phone conversations to traverse the Internet or private corporate data networks, avoiding the traditional phone network and its toll charges. VoIP (or, more broadly, IP telephony, which incorporates VoIP and adds many enhanced software-based, business-grade telephony features) is creating new business models -- for instance, providing unprecedented mobility to salespeople and enabling call center agents to work from their homes with PC-based phones.
The Federal Communications Commission, which is working to determine what point on the regulatory spectrum VoIP should occupy, is looking closely at important items such as the technology's accessibility to people with disabilities. While the Internet's success suggests that a hands-off approach would be best to maintain VoIP's growth, there are critical aspects of telephony regulation -- those protecting citizens, and disabled persons in particular -- that are too important to ignore.
To its credit, the FCC has been consistent in expressing concerns that VoIP be accessible to people with disabilities. The commission's Internet Policy Working Group held a "Solutions Summit" on May 7 to hear from members of the disabilities community and industry regarding how such accessibility can be provided as the use of VoIP spreads.
Regulators have thus far sensibly demonstrated what is described as "a light touch" out of concern that heavy regulation could impede VoIP's development and its benefits for businesses and consumers. The need to ensure accessibility, however, is acute in the workplace. Unemployment rates among segments of the disabilities community are very high, ranging from 20% to 70%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics and advocacy groups.
It's clear that the marketplace alone can't be counted on to kick-start development of technologies required to provide equal access to all. Although people with disabilities make up a large and growing segment of our population, their buying power isn't strong enough to provide the economic incentive needed for industry to devote resources toward the development of user-friendly features that help people with disabilities participate more fully in economic life.
The standards for accessibility in VoIP should be extrapolated from today's telecommunications regulations, which reside in several federal acts, including the Telecommunications Act of 1996. These regulations require telecommunications manufacturers and service providers to ensure that their systems are accessible to people with disabilities and also require organizations