Omer Zak

From Hackers-IL

daraco Sometime in the misty shadows of the 1980's when more expensive modems worked at lightning-fast 1200bps and the hobbyists were still happy with 300bps modems as long as they had both Originate and Answer modes, two Israeli deaf persons started the "Israeli TDD Project".

This project had the purpose of utilizing home computers like VIC 20 and Commodore 64, along with modems, to help deaf persons communicate via the phone.

TDD means Telecommunication Device for the Deaf. This term was coined in USA to give a new name to teletypes (TTYs) used by the deaf there for this purpose. Subsequently, the term TTY was reinstated since also hearing mute people use those devices.

By 1990, tens of people, both deaf and hearing, utilized this technology. However, later it was wiped out by the decreasing cost of FAX machines. Nowadays, SMS is the dominant telecommunication technology among the deaf.

What does the above have to do with TDDPirate? TDDPirate is the handle used by one of the aforementioned Israeli deaf persons.

• Home page http://www.zak.co.il/
• Blog http://www.livejournal.com/users/tddpirate/