[Waragainstsleep]

BBC News - Homeless hotspots plan causes controversy for BBH ad agency

Discuss.

[Big Mac]

As it's been depicted on TV, I think it's great.

[Waragainstsleep]

I can't decide how practical it is. Surely homeless people will just pawn the equipment for food? Or get robbed for it?

That aside, its certainly an ingeniously novel idea.

[Tiresias]

What the actual f**k?

[ghporter]

If the people being paid to do advertising with the portable hot spots were being paid to wear sandwich boards advertising a local restaurant, would there be an uproar? I don't think so. In fact, the advertiser is working with an Austin homeless resource center to find the folks doing this, and I think it's a good thing for them. The money DOES go the the homeless people doing the work.

The old idea of "homeless" equaling destitute and decrepit is laughably false today. Lots of people lost their homes and jobs without losing their dignity, let alone their humanity. And the people hired for this task are hardly the folks you'll see at freeway underpasses panhandling, competing with each other to see who can look the worst. They are working in a very public place (that already had plenty of extra security because of the SXSW crowds anyway), they are screened for reliability, and they are interested in doing this job. The furor is a whole lot of hyperventilation over nothing that warrants it.

[hyteckit]

Are the advertising 'Bum Fights'?

You can now watch Bum Fights on our 4G hotspot.

[PB2K]

I still don't understand the model well enough..

An agency equips a homeless with a wifi accesspoint. But how does the homeless make money?

1-By selling a voucher with a code and keep (part of) the earnings?
2-Do they get their pay from the agency afterwards?
3-They get no pay at all

[Tiresias]

If the company can discover a way of converting the homeless into biofuel, they could use some of the profits to instal wifi routers at certain strategically chosen locations and thereby completely circumvent the controversy.

[Spheric Harlot]

LTE is made of People!

[andi*pandi]

I read the wired article, and it does say that the homeless get to keep the fees for the wireless.

The Damning Backstory Behind 'Homeless Hotspots' at SXSW | Epicenter | Wired.com

The sandwich board analogy is good I think, that both are honest work... but somehow this feels squicky. Perhaps because the homeless can't afford cell phones? A bigger gap between have and have-not?

[PB2K]

If they can keep (part of) the earnings I have no problem with this model. It makes them work for a living, by doing honest work that is easy to master. And as the article claims, they do get into positive contact with more fortuned people, which can only be a good thing.

[Atheist]

I don't understand how anyone could oppose this. What if the homeless person were to get a job as a mobile hotspot? Wouldn't that be a good thing?

[olePigeon]

I heard about it on the radio. Apparently not only did they apply for the job, but they're getting paid in addition to any donations or tips people give them to use the wireless. So I don't see any problem with it. Some would argue that they're exploiting the image of homeless people to sell a product, but how is that different than exploiting women to sell clothes and makeup?

[mduell]

They get $20 and a free 4G hotspot (for the duration of their contract).

Cue some retarded liberal whining about living wage.

[-Q-]

Soylent Hotspots ARE PEOPLE.

[ghporter]

Who says you need an address to have a cell phone? There are plenty of very low cost options for cell phones. Not smart phones, but not Jitterbug phones, either.

I think the issue is more about the wording on the shirts ("I am a hotspot") than the actual situation.

The people selling access get a fee AND the proceeds, so they have an incentive to sign up lots of people. This is called a "commission" anywhere else.

Why does the press (and some people here) act like "homeless" implies "drunk/druggie with poor sanitation and an evil mind"? The people working on this are out of work, not "untouchables".

[reychoi]

This is a good idea but not safe for the users. Furthermore, a debatable test was run at Austin, Texas' South by Southwest festival last year, called “Homeless Hotspots.” A marketing business gave numerous homeless people mobile wireless hotspots, which people could use for a suggested donation and paid them for doing it. It caused controversy as people cried “exploitation,” but 11 of 13 participants were able to get off the roads with the cash it made.

[subego]

We need zombie hotspots.

[Shaddim]

If they made enough $$ to get off the streets, then they'd no longer be homeless... would they then lose their jobs?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

If they made enough $$ to get off the streets, then they'd no longer be homeless... would they then lose their jobs?

The skill is to find that magic $$ number that keeps them happy, but still ON the street ;-)

-t

[Shaddim]

Ahh, the so-called "happy homeless", I can't say I've met many of those.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

Ahh, the so-called "happy homeless", I can't say I've met many of those.

Because right now, they don't enjoy free WiFi whereever they go

-t