I was wondering if general consumer protection laws would cover access 
technology lemons?  Do we really need new laws, or are there already ones on 
the books for consumers in general which would adequately cover this problem? 
 I don't know.  What I do know is that we pay a hefty price for our 
technology, and it is often difficult to find objective, unbiased, brutally 
honest information about access tech.  I would like to see some sort of watch 
dog organization over the industry if problems arise in the future, but I 
have had very good support and quality products from every access tech vendor 
I have ever dealt with, thank goodness!  It's a tough question, and I'm not 
really sure where I stand at this point.  I can see both sides of the coin.  
If we have lemon laws for cars, why not for access technology?  But on the 
other hand, do existing laws cover these issues well enough?  The catch-22is 
that with more regulation comes more lawsuits, higher insurance premiums for 
companies, etc.  And the cost gets passed on to, you guessed it, the 
consumer.  I can see the pros and cons of regulation in my work as a medical 
transcriptionist for example.  I know that doctors go out of their way to 
cover their rear ends by prescribing lots of tests and doing unnecessary 
procedures to avoid being sued.  However, in some cases the threat of 
malpractice has cleaned up areas of medicine such as anesthesia quite a bit.  
I would hope that the industry would police itself.  In my opinion, the 
internet is the best friend a blind person has in terms of consumer 
protection because if there is an absolutely terrible piece of software or a 
lousy product, it will be all over the lists and message areas pretty quick.  
Thanks for listening.
Lynn K. Schneider
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