Controversy Over 'Homeless 4G Hot Spots' At SXSW Festival

[Renew Deal]

NEW YORK (WPIX)— We all know how handy a mobile hotspot can be in a crowded, open area. That's especially true this year in Austin, Texas, - the site of this year's annual South by Southwest interactive festival in Austin, Texas. But there is a controversy brewing over something - or someone - called a "Homeless Hotspot."

A homeless man named Clarence was one of thirteen homeless people who we're given mobile hotspot devices. They spent the weekend walking around the festival providing "pay as you go" WiFi access. Their services were scheduled to med Monday. Their recommended fee was relatively reasonable - two bucks for 15 minutes. That's plenty of time to post that all important Twitter update.

The New York City-based marketing firm BBH partnered with a local homeless shelter in Austin - and handed out the hot spot devices to Clarence and the others as a quote, "charitable experiment" designed to give the less fortunate a chance to digitize the "street newspapers for sale" business model.

But critics immediately jump all over the campaign - calling it, among other things - shameful, patronizing, and de-humanizing.
<snip>

But BBH isn't backing down. Company spokesperson Emma Cooksman told PIX11's Jay Dow the so called hotspot managers get to keep every cent they make, and that BBH is not profiting from the campaign in any way.

http://www.wpix.com/wpix-homeless-hot-spots-031212,0,7264047.story

[Vincardog]

1. What? A program to help the homeless and provide a service to people at a reasonable price

OF COURSE there are going to be critics. How dare they not provide the corporate overlords their cut?
IF this continues the people might just start to take control of their own lives.

[Luminous Animal]

9. How about actually paying people minimum wage for the work they are doing.

[Vincardog]

32. A link for your answer

[link:http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=420436|

[originalpckelly]

2. Why would this be bad?

I mean, OMG! It's just brutal carrying around a fucking hotspot, right?

[TheWraith]

3. $2 for 15 minutes? Not what I call reasonable.

You might as well get yourself an aircard which will cost you $2 per DAY.

[Oilwellian]

12. Hopefully...

There are those who understand the concept of this program and are willing to give support to the homeless people who are providing this service and trying to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

[TheWraith]

14. $2.50 an hour isn't going to do much for their bootstraps. nt

[Oilwellian]

29. Hmmm

If you read the article, you would see they could earn $2.00 every 15 mins. It's still not enough to be self-sufficient but it's a start.

[think]

31. Please see my post below from the company on wages:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002418794#post23

Plus they can have multiple persons on a hotspot willing to pay for access on at the same time so the $2 per 15 minutes is not a max figure by any means.

[HopeHoops]

4. Now, it took awile, but I know EXACTLY where the G-spot is - what's this talk about four of them?

I'm going to have to go back to the lab for extensive study of the matter.

[think]

5. Glad to see some positive solutions to helping the homeless.

I'll ignore the criticism and applaud the effort. When the critics have a better solution I am listening.

[Luminous Animal]

11. Yeah. Paying people $2.50 an hour is a positive solution.

[think]

16. Where does it say they are paying them $2.50 an hour?

From what I read and watched it appeared they got all the money that was paid for using the service. A person pays $2 for 15 minutes of service. If it is a true hotspot a person could have multiple paying customers at any given time.

I don't see the $2.50 an hour ting anywhere but please correct me if I am wrong.

[Luminous Animal]

18. In another article, it was stated that they received $20 for a days work. Also...

piecework is not pay. To add insult to injury, those accessing the service are not required to pay. It's a recommended donation.

Whatever happened to an honest day's work for an honest day's pay?

[think]

20. The workers get all the money they collect:

This is straight from the company doing the project:

Homeless Hotspots: a charitable experiment at SXSWi

UPDATE: Obviously, there’s an insane amount of chatter about this, which although certainly villianizes us, in many ways is very good for the homeless people we’re trying to help: homelessness is actually a subject being discussed at SXSW and these people are no longer invisible. It’s unfortunate how much information being shared is incorrect (an unresearched story by ReadWriteWeb, which has now been updated is the epicenter of that misinformation). So, without being defensive (we welcome the educated critiques), we wanted to share a few key facts:

+ We are not selling anything. There is no brand involved. There is no commercial benefit whatsoever.

+ This is a test program that was always scheduled to end today (there’s no 2-week payment cycle)

+ Each of the Hotspot Managers keeps all of the money they earn. The more they sell their own access, the more they as individuals make (it’s not a collected pot to be shared unless people choose to donate generally)....

source:

http://bbh-labs.com/homeless-hotspots-a-charitable-experiment-at-sxswi

If you have a link to the $2.50 an hour story I will check it out. But from what I am reading a person could make some good money if they sold the service all day at a an event like this. Plus it brings the problem of homeless to the front of the discussion while generating income for a person that absolutely needs it.

[think]

23. Another update from the company in regards to pay:

bold added for the areas of importance:

Update 3: Another bit of information being reported inaccurately relates to the finances of the homeless individuals participating. To clarify: These volunteers were guaranteed make at least $50/day, for a maximum of 6 hours work. This amount equates to more than the Texas state minimum wage of $7.25/hr for the same number hours. Based on donations already received, we know their earnings will be higher than $50 for each of them – as was our intention. What’s been misunderstood is the break-out of money in cash per day vs. what’s received after the program ends. BBH provides a $20 cash ”stipend” to the volunteers each day regardless of their own sales. This is the cash amount that was handed to them each day while the program was live (it ended yesterday) and was advised specifically by our friends at Front Steps shelter, who are conscious of the responsibility that comes with handing cash to someone facing financial challenges daily, but who still needs to work toward a long-term solution for housing and employment. The additional money raised by each Hotspot Manager will be delivered via money order from the shelter where they have a program in place that helps the participants save about 2/3?s toward their employment and housing goals. Again, this has all been built based on input from the shelter and the participants’ case managers in a way that’s best for the participants.

http://bbh-labs.com/homeless-hotspots-a-charitable-experiment-at-sxswi

[MuseRider]

6. My first reaction when I saw this yesterday

was that it was patronizing.

Second thought that came a little later and stands today is that nobody is forcing people to do this so the people doing it are choosing it. If I was out there I would do it. Some people are homeless by choice but I think perhaps that these days that is not the majority. If they want the work then more power to them.

It will be interesting to see how this works out, if there is a positive outcome.

For now I think that is may be a very nice thing for those who choose to participate.

[saras]

7. (the hidden message) - it's patronizing them INSTEAD OF EXPLOITING THEM

I think that's the real objection - that it treats the homeless as though they are competent enough to choose a job or not.

[cbayer]

8. I heard a great story about this on NPR yesterday.

It is taking the place of the newspapers that were (are?) written, printed and distributed by homeless populations in some cities.

There is an emphasis on communication here that some homeless people never get access to.

The question about whether it is patronizing or not was discussed, but my general take was that it is an overall good thing.

[Rex]

10. I saw it at first as very bad form.

Yet, are you saying the homeless person gets some kind of voice over the hotspot and can communicate with other homeless people via wifi? If THAT is the case, then I see this as a good thing overall. As long as they are not treated like objects.

[cbayer]

13. The most interesting points made by the developer were these

The customer has to speak to the seller (homeless) in order to access the product. They have to exchange not just money but some personal information. The sellers have been reporting that these opportunities to communicate with the customers have been positive and give them an opportunity to share a little of their story, like the street newspapers have done.

Also, the sellers get to keep the profits, similar to the street newspapers. They feel good about having a job and getting some cash.

The developer seemed to have a great deal of respect for those that are working with him.

[Rex]

27. Wow, that really sounds a lot better then

yesterday when I read the story! I didn't really understand what they were doing. Good for them, anything that will help the homeless imo.

[cbayer]

28. If you get a chance to hear the interview of one of the guys who worked as a homeless

wi-fi station on Marketplace, I think you will be blown away.

He was great and was extremely happy with the program.

Even elicited an apology from the host, who tried to make the case yesterday that the program was exploitative.

[Rex]

30. There was a small amount of news about it on G4

a few hours ago! Information is amazing.

[hobbit709]

15. There's been FREE wifi internet access in downtown Austin for years

Provided by the City Of Austin. friend of mine helped set it up and maintained it until he retired from his city job.

[cbayer]

17. The issue, apparently, is that there is no or limited access at the festival.

[hobbit709]

19. 90% of SXSW activity is at or near 6th st.

Well within the area that free wifi is. The problem is that are now 100,000 people trying to access it all at once. The carriers have all put in extra lines in the area but it still gets swamped.
One of the main reason I won't get within 5 miles of SXSW when it's on. At least it's not as bad as one year-they had SXSW, College Basketball March Madness, the rodeo AND the Texas Relays at the same time.
There wasn't a hotel room to be found within 20 miles of Austin.

[think]

22. Is it 3g or 4g service? Not sure how much faster 4g is but these hotspots are 4g

It might make the difference to the tech savvy in search of speed? I do not know for sure but that would be my guess.

[TheWraith]

24. 4G and WiFi are completely different technologies.

WiFi is short range (usually ~100 feet or less for civilian gear, maybe up to 1000 feet for commercial high-power stuff) and very fast. 4G is not quite as fast, but is based on cell phone networks, so it covers areas for up to miles around each tower, allowing it to blanket cities.

Virtually all gadgets these days have WiFi built in, but very few have 4G, and even those that do require a paid subscription. What's being talked about here is devices which act as translators for WiFi devices to hook up to a 4G network.

Even so, you're better off simply getting a 4G connection device for your laptop. Even if you use it for 2 weeks, you'd end up paying maybe $25 for the service and reselling the USB stick at cost. You'd then have high speed internet 24/7 for two weeks, compared to paying the same amount for 3 hours of high speed internet over two weeks.

[think]

25. My bad. Mixing apples and oranges. /nt

[WolverineDG]

21. Yup

Too many people trying to access the net can overload the system. As long as these folks did this voluntarily & were paid fairly, I don't have a problem with it.

[cbayer]

26. They just interviewed a man who participated on Marketplace.

He was very, very positive about it and said that the others in the shelter who had participated were also all very please.

He stressed the positives of having contact with people, being able to tell them about himself (and the others), providing a legitimate service and making good money.

It seems like a win-win to me.