The Impact of Recent Lawsuits on Video Accessibility Requirements
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This document summarizes a presentation about the impact of recent lawsuits on video accessibility requirements. It discusses several lawsuits that have expanded the scope of accessibility laws like the ADA and CVAA. These lawsuits have targeted the lack of captions and audio descriptions on videos on services like Netflix, websites run by universities, and touchscreen kiosks. The presentation also provides guidance on best practices for creating high quality captions and audio descriptions, and discusses tools and formats for video accessibility.
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The Impact of Recent Lawsuits on Video Accessibility Requirements
- 1. The Impact of Recent Lawsuits on Video Accessibility Requirements Owen Edwards Senior Accessibility Consultant SSB BART Group owen.edwards@ssbbargroup.com www.3playmedia.com twitter: @3playmedia live tweet: #a11y Type questions in the control panel during the presentation This presentation is being recorded and will be available for replay To view live captions, please follow the link in the chat window Lily Bond Director of Marketing 3Play Media lily@3playmedia.com
- 3. Agenda ‣ Introduction to Captions & Description ‣ Benefits of Accessible Video ‣ Accessibility Laws ‣ Closed Captioning Lawsuits ‣ Blind/Low Vision Lawsuits ‣ Caption Quality Requirements + Creation ‣ Description Quality Requirements + Creation ‣ Q&A
- 4. What Are Captions? ‣ Text that has been time synchronized with the media ‣ Convey all spoken text & sound effects ‣ Originated in the early 1980s for broadcast television ‣ Captions vs. transcripts ‣ Captions vs. subtitles ‣ Closed vs. open captions
- 5. What Is Audio Description? Narration added to the soundtrack to describe important visual details that cannot be understood from the main soundtrack alone ‣ Also know as: Video Description Narrative Description Description ‣ Similar to “Directors Commentary” on DVDs ‣ Increasingly available on TV (via “SAP”), and now on some online services “What Is Description?” - DCMP
- 6. Benefits of Captioning ‣ Accessibility for hard of hearing ‣ Better comprehension ‣ Flexibility to view in sound-sensitive environments ‣ Interactive video search ‣ SEO ‣ Reusability ‣ Translation ‣ May be required by law 80%of people who use captions aren’t deaf or hard of hearing 48 MillionAmericans with hearing loss
- 7. Benefits of Description ‣ Accessibility for blind & low- vision users ‣ Advantages for people with cognitive / learning disabilities ‣ Flexibility to “view” in eyes-free or eyes-busy environments ‣ May be required by law 21 Million Americans with vision loss
- 8. Accessibility Laws: Rehabilitation Act Rehabilitation Act: Sections 508, 504 ‣ Covers federal agencies and orgs with federal funding ‣ Assistive Technology Act ‣ Section 508 refresh likely coming in October
- 9. Accessibility Laws: ADA Rehabilitation Act: Sections 508, 504 ‣ Covers federal agencies and orgs with federal funding ‣ Assistive Technology Act ‣ Section 508 refresh likely coming in October ADA: Titles II, III ‣ Covers public and commercial entities ‣ Lawsuits: What is a “place of public accommodation”?
- 10. Accessibility Laws: CVAA Rehabilitation Act: Sections 508, 504 ‣ Covers federal agencies and orgs with federal funding ‣ Assistive Technology Act ‣ Section 508 refresh likely coming in October ADA: Titles II, III ‣ Covers public and commercial entities ‣ Lawsuits: What is a “place of public accommodation”? CVAA ‣ Covers Internet content that aired on TV ‣ Includes video clips
- 11. Accessibility Laws: WCAG 2.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) ‣ International guidelines with “Success Criteria” ‣ Covers web content, mobile apps (iPhone, Android), etc. ‣ Is the basis of the Section 508 refresh ‣ Levels A, AA, AAA – increasing complexity ‣ Lawsuits and settlements are generally focusing on Level AA
- 12. Accessibility Laws: WCAG 2.0 (cont.) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) ‣ International guidelines ‣ Covers web content, mobile apps (iPhone, Android), etc. ‣ Is the basis of the Section 508 refresh ‣ Levels A, AA, AAA – increasing complexity ‣ Lawsuits and settlements are generally focusing on Level AA ‣ Specific guidelines for video (and similar for audio): Captions (A for pre-recorded video, AA for live video) Transcript (optional at A*, required at AAA) Audio description (optional at A*, required at AA and AAA) Sign Language (AAA) * Either a transcript or audio description is required at level A
- 13. Closed Captioning Lawsuits: Netflix ‣ National Association of the Deaf (NAD), et al. v Netflix – What constitutes a place of public accommodation? – How did the NAD originally bring Netflix under the ADA? – Settlement & implications
- 14. Closed Captioning Lawsuits: Harvard/MIT ‣ National Association of the Deaf (NAD), et al. v Netflix – What constitutes a place of public accommodation? – How did the NAD originally bring Netflix under the ADA? – Settlement & implications ‣ NAD vs. Harvard & MIT – Current state of the case – Implications for higher education – Changing scope of the ADA
- 15. OCR/DOJ Resolution Agreements & Lawsuits ‣ Colleges & Universities with DOJ/OCR Investigations for Inaccessible IT – At least 15 schools ‣ Video Specific Complaints – University of Montana • Videos without captions – South Carolina Technical College System (SCTCS) • Videos without captions • Inaccessible media player
- 16. Dear Colleague Letters from the OCR ‣ University of Cincinnati – Concrete examples – Breadth of online services OCR will cover ‣ University of Phoenix – Covers WCAG standards – Remedies students who may have been harmed by inaccessibility in the past ‣ Michigan Department of Education – Identifies “violations” instead of complaints – Lays out how to make videos accessible
- 17. Blind/Low Vision access Lawsuits: Penn State ‣ National Federation of the Blind (NFB), v. Penn State – Title II of ADA covers “public entities” – Range of violations included: • Library and departmental web sites • ANGEL course management system • “Smart” podium with touchscreen • PNC Bank ATMs and Web site – Broad implications for public universities
- 18. Blind/Low Vision access Lawsuits: Redbox ‣ National Federation of the Blind (NFB), v. Penn State ‣ Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, et al. v. Redbox Automated Retail LLC, et al. – ADA as well as California Civil Rights and Disabled Persons laws – Issues with accessibility of touchscreen kiosks – Dispels any assumption that blind people do not watch video (either alone or with family & friends)
- 19. Blind/Low Vision access Lawsuits: AMC ‣ National Federation of the Blind (NFB), v. Penn State ‣ Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, et al. v. Redbox Automated Retail LLC, et al. ‣ California Council of the Blind (CCB), et al. v. AMC Theaters – Specific issues of access to Audio Description in movie theaters – Could bring Audio Description on a par with Captions as far as expectations for accommodation
- 20. What Is “Good Enough” for Captioning? ‣ ADA, Section 508, Section 504, CVAA, and FCC all state: – An equivalent alternative must be provided video content ‣ How Accurate Is Accurate? –
- 21. YouTube Automatic Captioning, for Example … ‣ Even if you assume YouTube automatic captions reach 80% accuracy (usually ASR is 60-70%): – 80% accuracy – 1 in 5 words is incorrect – An 8-word sentence will be ≅17% accurate – A 10-word sentence will be ≅11% accurate
- 22. FCC Standards for Caption Quality ‣ Caption accuracy – Must match spoken words to fullest extent possible and include non-verbal information – Allows some leniency for live captioning ‣ Caption synchronization – Must coincide with their spoken words and sounds to the greatest extent possible ‣ Program completeness – Captions must run from the beginning to the end of the program ‣ Onscreen caption placement – Captions should not block other important visual content
- 23. Best Practices for Captioning Quality ‣ Spelling & Grammar ‣ Speaker Identification ‣ Sound Effects ‣ Punctuation – “(SHOUTING) Hi” vs. “Hi!” ‣ Verbatim ‣ # Characters per Line ‣ Font ‣ Synchronization ‣ Minimum Duration ‣ Caption Placement ‣ Silence Transcription Standards Caption Frame Standards
- 24. How to Create Captions Yourself ‣ Transcribe the video – Usually takes 5-6x real time – Include non-speech elements ‣ Use YouTube to transcribe & set timings – It is highly recommended to use another program to set the timings, rather than attempting to do so manually ‣ Edit YouTube’s auto captions
- 25. Understanding Caption Formats WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.830 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.830 --> 00:00:05.970 align:middle line:84% This short video shows you how to get started 00:00:05.970 --> 00:00:08.574 align:middle line:84% in the 3PlayMedia account system. 00:00:08.574 --> 00:00:10.240 align:middle line:84% First, log in to account.3playmedia.com. 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,830 2 00:00:03,830 --> 00:00:05,970 This short video shows you how to get started 3 00:00:05,970 --> 00:00:08,574 in the 3PlayMedia account system. 4 00:00:08,574 --> 00:00:10,240 First, log in to account.3playmedia.com. 01:02:53:14 94ae 94ae 9420 9420 01:02:55:14 942c 942c 01:03:27:29 94ae 94ae 9420 9420 WebVTT (.vtt) SRT (.srt) SCC (.scc)
- 26. What Is “Good Enough” for Audio Description? ‣ No specific standards from WCAG, FCC, CVAA ‣ Guidelines exist, especially DCMP’s Description Key ‣ Existing Description companies have their own internal practices/standards ‣ CVAA requirements may lead to standards development, and/or lawsuits
- 27. How to Implement Audio Description 1. Include description at the production stage, so no separate track is needed ... or ... 2. A second, user-selectable, audio track that includes audio descriptions 3. An additional version of a video that includes audio descriptions 4. A version of a video which has been re-edited to allow additional time for audio descriptions ... or? 5. Text track (similar to captions) – an unproven, but potential future option
- 28. How to Implement Audio Description (cont.) ‣ Many vendors exist, including: * Not an exhaustive list, nor specific endorsement: see https://dcmp.org/ai/179/ for a more complete list ‣ Reputable vendors have good quality, and experience ‣ In-house, post-production solutions are generally unproven, higher risk Audio Description Associates DCMP WGBH’s Media Access Group CaptionMax Narrative Television Network Audio Eyes Bridge Multimedia DICAPTA
- 29. Other implications of video accessibility ‣ Need an accessible video player / platform, which supports: Keyboard-only access to controls Low-vision support Screen reader support Voice control (e.g. Dragon NaturallySpeaking) support One or more method for Audio Description playback ‣ Note: Autoplay is a big problem for screen reader users! Able Player
- 30. Existing accessible video players / platforms ‣ Some players focus on accessibility: * Able Player OzPlayer PayPal’s accessible video player ‣ Some players are quite accessible, but few support description: Kaltura YouTube JW Player Brightcove Selection of a player / platform increasingly needs to consider accessibility OzPlayer * Not an exhaustive list, nor specific endorsement
- 31. Owen Edwards Senior Accessibility Consultant SSB BART Group owen.edwards@ssbbartgroup.com Lily Bond Director of Marketing 3Play Media lily@3playmedia.com Q&A Register for upcoming webinars at: http://www.3playmedia.com/webinars/ Upcoming Webinars Sept 8: Quick Start to Captioning Sept 20: Captioning the 3Play Way Sept 29: 2016 Legal Update on Digital Accessibility Cases (with Lainey Feingold) Oct 6: Developing an Accessibility Policy live tweet: #a11y @3playmedia Please type your questions into the window in your control panel. A recording of this webinar will be available for replay.
Editor's Notes
- Not U.S. specific, and some countries are ahead in implementing (e.g. Australia, Canada) Technology agnostic, although initially targeting web content. Has been applied to smartphone apps Section 508 is significantly out-of-date; the “Section 508 Refresh” seeks to harmonize it with WCAG 2.0 Levels A and AA. Expect to be ratified this year, roll-out next April, but has experienced significant delays. Level A is the most basic compliance; most companies, and DOJ OCR in ADA cases, go for Level AA (potentially with some exceptions). Some go for *some* features of Level AAA, but aiming for full Level AAA unrealistic.
- For video, WCAG requires Captions and either Transcript or Audio Description at level A for pre-recorded. At Level AA, captions must also be present for live video, and pre-recorded must have Captions and Audio Description (transcript is not sufficient). At Level AAA, Captions and Sign Language and Transcript. Captions for live audio-only content. Note that all of this is affected by the idea that a video can not need Audio Description if all relevant visual information can be understood from the audio track.
- Landmark lawsuit Streaming movies didn’t have captions > title iii Courts ruled that Netflix does qualify Settlement: 100% of captions Profound precedent for application of ADA to web & online content
- Landmark lawsuit Streaming movies didn’t have captions > title iii Courts ruled that Netflix does qualify Settlement: 100% of captions Profound precedent for application of ADA to web & online content
- While we wait for the laws to be updated, the OCR his taking a stance on how we should interpret the law
- Reference: https://nfb.org/node/1026 and http://accessibility.psu.edu/nfbpsusettlement/ Announced by NFB November 12, 2010 Resulted in a “... voluntary Resolution Agreement (Agreement) as part of the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Early Complaint Resolution (ECR) process to resolve the issues the Complainants raised in complaint #03-11-2020 (“OCR Complaint”). – signed 9-27-2011
- Filed in January 2012 Settled in August 2014 California Unruh Civil Rights Act and California Disabled Persons Acts blind people do watch video (either alone or with family & friends; especially dialog-driven movies, or when their friends act as their describer) Reference: http://dralegal.org/case/lighthouse-for-the-blind-and-visually-impaired-et-al-v-redbox-automated-retail-llc-et-al/
- Filed in February 2016 These three cases, taken together with the CVAA’s requirements for audio description of broadcast TV, point to a growing trend towards legal action to enforce accessibility of video for people who are blind, and WCAG 2.0 Level AA broadly sets the standard for audio description Reference: http://dralegal.org/case/audio-description-amc-theaters/
- Description seems inherently subjective, at least from the editorial perspective (although some argue otherwise) Existing description companies do a very good job – the question is, could there come an equivalent of YouTube auto-captions, and if so what quality is good enough? Without standards development, someone may need to bring a lawsuit for non-compliance as NAD did with Harvard/MIT Possibility for cross-over from the Caption standards? Certainly, we can identify some areas which would not meet quality standards (e.g. talking over dialog, like putting captions over text) Note: Even WCAG acknowledges that there are situations where description is not required, so it continues to be subjective: ... if all of the information in the video track is already provided in the audio track, no audio description is necessary. [Audio description is provided] ... except when the media is a media alternative for text and is clearly labeled as such.
- Note the increasing cost of the four different options 1. is the cheapest, but is not applicable to existing content Many vendors are going for 2. or 3., depending on what delivery platform is being used. 4. also impacts the production stage, and is only really applicable if 2. and 3. aren’t viable Note: Text-based description is supported by some players (e.g. Able Player), but is not widely supported/implemented, and has issues – does not seem to be a viable production solution at this point
- See also https://dcmp.org/ai/179/ for a more complete list of Description Service Vendors Note this is not a complete list nor an endorsement Few platforms exist to do description of existing video content (as opposed to putting it in the video production process).
- YouTube player was Flash, and not very accessible. They added HTML5, which was more accessible, but opt-in. As of Jan 2015, HTML5 is default (see http://youtube-eng.blogspot.com/2015/01/youtube-now-defaults-to-html5_27.html) No exhaustive list of accessibility of players / platforms – one was created by the Commitee on Institutional Cooperation Information Technology Accessibility Group (CIC ITAG), and needs updating. SSB is involved with updating this information, and looking to host the results. In the mean time, companies need to ask their player / platform provider for a compliance statement – SSB can provide specific guidance.