The reading is done by synthesized speech, DECtalk. It does not have the uneven quality of the voices and reading skills of a group of volunteers, but is absolutely uniform and dependable. After a short period of strangeness and getting used to, it becomes completely unnoticeable. The newspaper publishers are understandably concerned to protect the security of their intellectual property. The security code and identity numbers for each individual are sent to every local service center in the network.
Every reader has access to a list of the telephone numbers for every local service center.
This means that once the network is fully operational, the blind person can travel anywhere in the nation and read the local and national newspapers from a hotel room, or the home of a friend or relative. In fact, with at least three national newspapers and the local newspaper universally available, the blind person will, for the first time in history, arguably have an advantage over the average sighted person in at least this area of information. There is no start-up cost for the special channel. This start-up cost is not for the purchase of equipment. It is exactly what the term implies.