I'm having trouble seeing the positive side of the American with Disabilities Act. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4781806/?GT1=3256 By Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent MSNBC Updated: 4:15 p.m. ET April 20, 2004It was designed to help the hard of hearing have full access to America's telephone system, and hailed as an equal opportunity success story. But some say it's now become a favorite tool among international con artists trying to bilk U.S. merchants out of millions of dollars . . . Relay services date back to the 1960s; their use became widespread in the 1990s, after they were mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. But in their initial form, they required callers to lug around keyboards known as TTY devices in order to place calls. In 2002, several companies launched the Internet equivalent of the service, called IP relay, which is much easier to use and more widely available. Both systems are still in place. Either way, there is no cost to the caller. Costs are covered by the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund, collected via a small fee long-distance companies pay for every minute of service they sell. . . . In February, the Federal Communications Commission conceded that the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund was in danger of running out of money, thanks in part to skyrocketing demand for the Internet relay service. To raise an additional $55 million and keep relay services operating through June, fees that fund the service were raised nearly 50 percent. . . .
I didn't want to include the whole article. The free deaf services allows anyone to have a message transmitted by a person who speaks for the caller. This intermediary is hired by the taxpayer and cannot change or add information to the call nor divulge its contents. What people are doing offshore is using this service to call into the United States free of charge and attempting to scam people as often as they can. They are using it so much that taxes to pay for this *free* services are increasing to pay for the increased load.
