Dr. Z got home from a road trip a few days ago and in his pile of mail, he saw a 4-color mailing from the VRSCA. It was addressed to him and another went to his wife.

It starts with “The Future of Video Relay Service is In Jeopardy”…is this a VRSCA or a Sorenson message? Who pays for the printing and mailing of these 4-colored postcards? They must have gone to tens of thousands of VRS consumers out there. The VRSCA has publicily said they are “neutral.” But with this mailing and a vlog by one of their people, it is obvious they are delivering the Sorenson message in another way. Is this neutral?

It does seem strange (and unethical) to Dr. Z for a company to set up an organization to promote its ideals and claim that that organization is “neutral.” After all, Dr. Z is assuming that Sorenson is paying for the mailing since we know from conversations with people that VRSCA is paid for by Sorenson. They pay for VRSCA booths at trade shows. They pay for VRSCA people to travel to such trade shows.

The mailing was received after the May 21st reply to comments deadline by the FCC. I am not sure if the FCC would take those reply cards into consideration.

Let us respect the FCC. The VRSCA mailing accuses the FCC of “seems unreasonable and poorly thought out.” The FCC was going through a process in determining the rates and as we know, it has not yet reached a decision. This issue will all boil down to the facts at hand, not emotion.

Dr. Z cares about your communication access and how public monies are being spent.

Disclosure: Dr. Z is a contractor working with CSDVRS on several projects.

(UPDATE) It has been brought to my attention that VRSCA is indeed funded by Sorenson. Go to this link.