Deaf Actor Russell Harvard from the film There Will Be Blood spoke today at a congressional hearing on legislation that would broaden rules on closed-captioning to include some digital devices and internet services. Harvard told members of the committee, "I and others who cannot hear are left out of this whirlwind of technological change (because) hardly any of these smaller devices display closed captions. Harvard urged Congress to take closed captioning laws "to its next level." While Democrats on the committee appeared to be in support of the plan, Republicans seemed skeptical. Captioned programming is already offered by some Internet video providers. That includes NBC and Apple's iTunes store.
