Do you gamble ? you like to play the numbers ? you feeling lucky ? How about "all or nothing" for a little excitement ?
It appears that is exactly what Sorenson has done with investors while threatening the Deaf and interpreters of their livelihood.
Hopes are that the FCC will soften-up their $3.89 rate proposal with consideration on some guilty pleasures of gambling addiction exhibited from earlier this year with $735 million that Sorenson laid "on the table" at the Goldman Sachs Casino.
Numerous vlogs, website and FaceBook postings have exposed the Sorenson "scare-tactic" charade as a cover for their
Vegas fetish for playing roulette with money that ISN'T EVEN THEIRS ! (courtesy of Wall St.) READ MORE
Sorenson threatens bankruptcy , spreads fear and panic to employees and Deaf vp community.
First, any writing of comments or opinions on the pending FCC/NECA interim VRS tier rates for '10-'11 MUST be prefaced with these apparently buried and forgotten outstanding issues from the REPORT AND ORDER AND DECLARATORY RULING from October 26, 2007 that were addressed from the LAST administration headed by the then controversial Chairman Kevin J. Martin.
regarding lobbying; pg.44, #95
95. Finally, apart from attempting to generate additional calls that can be billed to the Fund, providers also may not use a consumer or call database to contact TRS users for lobbying or any other purpose. The Commission has made clear not only in the 2005 TRS Marketing Practices PN, but also in the 2000 TRS Order, that TRS customer profile information cannot be used for any purpose other than handling relay calls.245 Therefore, for example, a provider may not contact its customers, by an automated message, postcards, or otherwise, to inform them about pending TRS compensation issues and urge them to contact the Commission about the compensation rates. Similarly, as noted above, a provider may not use call data to monitor the TRS use by its customers (or the customers of other providers) and to determine whether they are making a sufficient number of calls to warrant further benefits from the provider.
regarding Data Collection from TRS Providers. pg. 64
TRS Providers shall provide the administrator with true and adequate data and other historical, projected and state rate related information reasonably requested by the administrator necessary to determine TRS fund revenue requirements and payments. TRS providers shall provide the administrator with the following: total TRS minutes of use, total interstate TRS minutes of use, total TRS operating expenses and total TRS investment in general accordance with part 32 of the Communications Act, and other historical or projected information reasonably requested by the administrator for purposes of computing payments and revenue requirements. The administrator and the Commission shall have the authority to examine, verify and audit data received from TRS providers as necessary to assure the accuracy and integrity of fund payments.
Sorenson would like to ignore these particular elements of this RODR 10'07 in their current "shock & awe" campaign of the current rate proposals. Boasts of 10,000 FCC comments by Sorenson in a very short time allegedly made on their behalf, could not have been achieved without tapping into their captive vp data-base reserve in clear VIOLATION of this RODR 10'07.
Also, avoiding operating expense disclosure mandates ORDERED BY THIS COMMISSION reveals their continuing intent to deceive. (to put it mildly)
For me, this is where it really starts...
Talk of ADA rights, functional equivalency, nationwide access, inclusion, etc. are empty when past issues are not resolved and get brought up over and over on this carousel of "rules and FCC comment crusades".
It remains to be seen how this administration of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will respond, if at all, to Sorensons flagrant disregard of this past Order related to lobbying and disclosure from the previous administration.
Let's see if this will become a collision or a collusion between the FCC and Sorenson.
For a your own personal clarification on this issue...
Check out Sorensons Pat Nola, President and CEO of Sorenson thanking their customers for assisting Sorenson making their case followed by the "panic" web alert / vlog from Ron Burdett , VP of Community Relations for Sorenson Communications... Take a look VRS THREATENED BY FCC PROPOSAL
May 7th, 2010
But watch this hilarius follow-up spoo
from the CODA brothers --------------------------------------->
It couldn't be said any better...
Purple Communications and FCC Reach Interim Agreement
The Declaratory Ruling excludes certain types of video relay calls from compensation by the TRS Fund, both prospectively and retroactively. In anticipation of, and contemporaneous with, the Declaratory Ruling, the FCC made immediate payment demands on Purple for reimbursement to the TRS Fund and notified Purple that it would withhold reimbursements to Purple from the TRS Fund. READ MORE PR Newswire Mar 9
Purple Reaches Agreement with FCC For Repayment another article READ MORE MyVRS.org
The Feds secure 8 guilty pleas
in the midst of their prosecution from the November 19,'09 indictments of 26 individuals who were charged with engaging in a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the FCC’s VRS program
On March 5, Kim E. Hawkins, 46, an owner of Nevada-based Master Communications, Arizona-based KL Communications and Texas-based Mascom LLC; Larry Berke, 62, Hawkins’s partner in KL Communications and employee of Master Communications; Alfia Iskandarova, 29, a former video interpreter (VI) for New York and New Jersey-based Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services, Inc. (DHIS); and Robert Z. Rubeck, 34, of Surprise, Ariz. all plead guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the FCC VRS program.
According to information contained in the plea documents, Hawkins, Berke, and Iskandarova admitted that their role in defrauding the FCC’s VRS program led to a total loss of between $2.5 and $7 million. Rubeck admitted that his role in the scheme led to a total loss of between $1 and $2.5 million. READ MORE FBI Press Release
On February 18, Irma Azrelyant,47, and Joshua Finkle,41, the former co-owners of New York and New Jersey-based Deaf and Hard of Hearing Interpreting Services Inc. (DHIS), also pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the FCC
VRS program of $7 million to $20 million. READ MORE
On January 13, Anthony Mowl, 25, the former assistant vice president of business development for Viable Communications Inc. (Viable), and Donald Tropp, 25, the former human resources manager for Viable, pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Video Relay Service (VRS) program of $2.5 million to $7 million. READ MORE FBI Press Release
Sentencing for Mowl and Tropp has not been scheduled. Sentencing for Hawkins, Berke, Iskandarova and Rubeck is scheduled for June 28. Sentencing for Azrelyant and Finkle is set for June 29.
At sentencing, each conviction faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, as well as mandatory restitution and forfeiture.
On May 24, six others will go to trial on the charges from the indictment. They are Viable’s president, John T.C. Yeh; Viable’s vice president of corporate strategy, Joseph Yeh; and the Viable corporate entity. Also DHIS assistant bookkeeper and video interpreter coordinator Oksana Strusa, as well as VIs' Natan Zfati, Alfia Iskandarova and Hennadii Holovkin.
More to come...
RID / NIC loses face to BEI interpreter credential in Michigan-
After a successful one year pledged vow from the state appointed Director seeking to provide interpreting services for the Deaf/HoH to select a new (BEI) interpreting testing system, delayed information for consideration came from the RID whom had SIGNIFICANT, if not PREDOMINANT representation on the agencies "Rules and Regulations Committee" AND from its own DODHH Interpreter Coordinator.
Why was the Michigan Board for the Evaluation for Interpreters (MI-BEI) test labeled inferior by the RID and whats really at stake?
US Charges Firms Defrauded Deaf Phone Fund
Feds charge firms with stealing millions from fund to help deaf people make phone calls
Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced criminal charges against more than two dozen people accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from a telephone service for the deaf.
Authorities said owners and employees at seven companies schemed to create bogus calls to a video service that allows the deaf to converse over phone lines to hearing people. Together, the companies represent about 15 percent of the market for such services, according to Justice Department officials READ MORE
Top Ten events of the "y2k" decade;
1) ADA reaches obscure10 year anniversary
2) ADA creates interpreter agency presence amidst severe interpreter shortages
3) Deaf Way I I _international Deaf culture shared & celebrated
4) Broadband becomes more accessible_technology hastens "functional equivalence"
5) Video Relay Service (VRS) / Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) arrive
6) Gallaudet President protest #2- "not Deaf enough" selection process brings repeat student scrutiny
7) RID membership reaches 15,000 plateau / "any and all certifications" accepted
8) Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC) -mandate for bi-lingual education revealed / audism exposed and challenged
9) VRS shackled with fraud and abuse allegations from federal government agencies / ongoing investigations abound
10) VRS industrys' current existence doubtful...
...and what will begin the next ten year stretch?
1) VRS reform _ the Dec. 17 '09 FCC workshop spreads VRS "out on the floor for 52 pick-up"
2) VRS- governments investigation trials and persecution under way with unprecedented fallout
3) VRS patent "discovered"-
4) RID "member" defined-
5) and much, much more..
Marlee Matlin's Remarks at FCC Hearing
on Broadband Access for People With Disabilities
Mailee Matlee with
Videointerpret owner Michael Doyle
About the FCC Broadband Field Events
In an effort to solicit input from the public in the development of a National Broadband Plan, the FCC will host field hearings http://www.broadband.gov/fieldevents/
throughout the country. Details on further field hearings will be announced later.
The FCC is convening field hearings this fall to promote an open dialogue between the FCC and the public on development of a National Broadband Plan. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010 that addresses broadband deployment, adoption, affordability, and the use of broadband to advance solutions to national priorities, including health care, education, energy, public safety, job creation, investment, and others. The FCC's Historic Opportunity to Improve Lives of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
As the FCC gathers recommendations for a national broadband plan, it faces a historic opportunity to help improve the lives of all deaf and hard of hearing individuals.
A recent field hearing on broadband access for people with disabilities outlined several of the necessary improvements an effective national broadband plan could have for people with disabilities, from improved closed captioning services to improved emergency services like 911. READ MORE
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