IDEA: Turn Homeless People into 4G Wireless Hotspots!!! Users Make Donations!!!

[NYC_SKP]

Win! (I think) Also, kind of creepy.

Turning The Homeless Into 4G Hotspots
'Homeless Hotspots' A Hit With South By Southwest Visitors
By Stacy Cowle
POSTED: 2:43 pm EDT March 12, 2012

AUSTIN (CNNMoney) -- It sounds like a headline from the The Onion, but it's true: A project called "Homeless Hotspots" is turning homeless Austin residents into mobile wireless hotspots outside the South by Southwest convention center.

It's part marketing stunt, part genuine charitable initiative -- and it's generating lots of double-takes and chatter from those who pass by.

"I'm Melvin, a 4G hotspot," reads the T-shirt of participant Melvin Hughes. "SMS HH Melvin to 25827 for access."

Hughes is carrying a Verizon MiFi 4G hotspot. Texting his code sends back his network password, which the recipient can use to suck down a few minutes of fast broadband access -- a scare commodity at SXSW, a tech/film/music gathering that has drawn more than 20,000 visitors to Austin.

http://www.wcti12.com/technology/30661362/detail.html

[MadHound]

1. Turning people into a thing

I find something rather obscene about this.

Instead of pursuing quick corporate stunts to fix the homeless problem, we need to undertake the real work that is needed to eliminate homelessness and poverty.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Like I said, kind of creepy.

OTOH, how many generations, decades, before such changes will ever come?

Also, I would defer to the homeless person's opinion on whether or not they would like to make money walking around as a human hot-spot, because it's their life, not mine.