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It sounded like a good idea, Homeless WiFi hotspots

Hugo Drax

Hugo Drax

Diamond Member
http://www.bangstyle.com/2012/03/sxsw-homeless-wifi-hotspot/

I guess the Marketing folks failed to do due diligence when coming up with this idea.

Meet Clarence, one of SXSW’s 13 “Homeless Hotspots.” The middle-aged homeless man wears a shirt that reads: “I’m Clarence. A 4 G hotspot. SMS HH Clarence to 25827 for access.” Attendees can use PayPal to use Clarence’s hotspot. This service is the brainchild of BBH Labs, a marketing agency that suggests that using homeless people as hotspots is the present-day answer to helping the nation’s homeless.

New York Times reporter David Gallagher blogged: “It is a neat idea on a practical level, but also a little dystopian. When the infrastructure fails us… we turn human beings into infrastructure?”

Critics took to Twitter to talk about the dehumanizing nature of the Homeless Hotspot scheme. The hashtag, “#homelesshotspot,” began trending on Sunday.
 
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It is an awesome idea.

When I first saw this thread I thought it was going to be "internet access for the homeless" and it reminded me of that movie Videodrome where the guy set up shelters for the homeless to watch TV in an attempt to reconnect them with society.
 
It is a good, but creepy idea.

What happens when they start selling implants that will make these "roaming" hotspots quite literal?

I think I feel a movie coming on.....
 
How is this any different than hiring homeless people to hold/wear signs/advertisements for 8-12hrs a day?

This happens all the time in my town.
 
As a paid service... I'm not so sure about it.

As a free sort of project, sure... great idea. The shirts shouldn't have a number to goto in order to get login info..

It should simply be for advertisement purposes.
 
Wreckem said:
How is this any different than hiring homeless people to hold/wear signs/advertisements for 8-12hrs a day?

This happens all the time in my town.
Click to expand...

Exactly, so instead of paying some homeless guy to provide a service, some idiots out there would rather have him continue to beg. F'in idiots.
 
Brilliant idea for scammers: Make up shirts, sniff out the data, steal credit card numbers, etc.
 
You Republicans are behind the times. My liberal friends and I have been making fun of the Progressives who have a problem with this for days now.
 
airdata said:
As a paid service... I'm not so sure about it.

As a free sort of project, sure... great idea. The shirts shouldn't have a number to goto in order to get login info..

It should simply be for advertisement purposes.
Click to expand...


..wait, what? So you would rather homeless people do this and not get paid?

To me, that's taking an already questionable idea and making it a terrible idea.

Though if they're getting paid, and the homeless people don't mind. It's strange, but as long as they're happy - idc. It's kind of a 'life gives you lemons, make lemonade' kind of idea. Homeless problem? And we need wifi? Fix em both at once! Well, maybe not fixing being homeless, but heck, at least they can buy food (or beer) now.
 
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