Marketing Agency Uses Homeless As Wi-Fi Hotspots

[HostFat]

"Marketing agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) has launched a controversial charity scheme at this year's South by Southwest festival, in which homeless people are being used to provide Wi-Fi hotspots. The project, Homeless Hotspots, seeks to address people's need for a high-speed data connection at the festival in Austin, Texas, by issuing the homeless with T-shirts that say 'I am a 4G hotspot.' Passers-by may then pay what they wish either in cash or by PayPal to get online 4G networks via the Wi-Fi device that a homeless person is carrying and the proceeds go to the Front Steps Homeless shelter in Austin."

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/03/12/1413239/marketing-agency-uses-homeless-as-wi-fi-hotspots

I see some good ideas

[Kluge]

... Couldn't they just hide devices and charge via PayPal or use something like DD-WRT's ad service?

What happens when the homeless person wants to walk somewhere else? Will there be a mob of weirdos walking around with the homeless so they don't move out of the service area?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

... Couldn't they just hide devices and charge via PayPal or use something like DD-WRT's ad service?

What happens when the homeless person wants to walk somewhere else? Will there be a mob of weirdos walking around with the homeless so they don't move out of the service area?

Stay tuned! I have a feeling I'm going to like this thread, for it's right up my alley (no pun intended). First, allow me to read the article that the OP was so kind to offer up. I dearly hope it sparks creative juices (normally activated when I tickle my fancy).

~Bruno~

EDIT:

Read it but, moreover, read what was linked from it, along with the comments (won't take long for you to do the same). http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/03/the-damning-backstory-behind-homeless-hotspots-at-sxswi/
I believe it best if you read what I linked to before providing further comment.

[Matthew N. Wright]

This is awesome.

This sounds like the ridiculous bullshit I would come up with.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

This is awesome.

This sounds like the ridiculous bullshit I would come up with.

Speaking of, on what page have you decided to place the newly created section entitled Twunker starting with the forthcoming second issue of Bitcoin Magazine?

~Cackling Bear~

EDIT: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-sxsw-homeless-hotspots-everyones-flippi

[evoorhees]

This is awesome.

This sounds like the ridiculous bullshit I would come up with.

Yes it does Matthew, and yes it's totally awesome

[Phinnaeus Gage]

SXSW or March 2012 BitCon? Dilemma! Need to flip a virtual coin for this one.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Boy, did I have an excellent idea after viewing this: http://www.ted.com/talks/morgan_spurlock_the_greatest_ted_talk_ever_sold.html

Then discovered that one of Matthew's cousin already stole the idea from me: http://www.bumvertising.com/

Therefore, I needed to brainfart a hybrid idea.

1. Normal Bum Sign
2. Ad Sign
3. Free WiFi Hotspot
4. Rinse/Repeat
5. Profit

[Cosbycoin]

Boy, did I have an excellent idea after viewing this: http://www.ted.com/talks/morgan_spurlock_the_greatest_ted_talk_ever_sold.html

Then discovered that one of Matthew's cousin already stole the idea from me: http://www.bumvertising.com/

Therefore, I needed to brainfart a hybrid idea.

1. Normal Bum Sign
2. Ad Sign
3. Free WiFi Hotspot
4. Rinse/Repeat
5. Profit

Wow....now let's get some bums to advertise bitcoin! lol

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Wow....now let's get some bums to advertise bitcoin! lol

Duh! Sure as hell wasn't twunkin' 'bout "coinvertising" (thought you'll like) them delicious Girl Scouts cookies (price increased to $.20 USD per cookie this year).

To make it truly more profitable for these less fortunate souls, they can put their FirstBit addresses on their signs, thereby allowing them to amass a nest egg for their retirement.

They can go from this:



To this:



In the matter of a couple short years, all thanks to Bitcoin.

~Bruno~

[Cosbycoin]

Wow....now let's get some bums to advertise bitcoin! lol

Duh! Sure as hell wasn't twunkin' 'bout "coinvertising" (thought you'll like) them delicious Girl Scouts cookies (price increased to $.20 USD per cookie this year).

To make it truly more profitable for these less fortunate souls, they can put their FirstBit addresses on their signs, thereby allowing them to amass a nest egg for their retirement.

They can go from this:



To this:



In the matter of a couple short years, all thanks to Bitcoin.

~Bruno~

you images depict a bubble if all bums did that lol

[Phinnaeus Gage]

you images depict a bubble if all bums did that lol

Bubble, hell! Up, up, up! Like a rocket. Look at pic again.

As you can clearly see in the bell curve, the tipping point for Bitcoin occurs when companies start advertising on the Homeless.



~Bruno~

[jCole]

thats a great idea. Do the homeless make any money from this or just the organization?

[Phinnaeus Gage]

thats a great idea. Do the homeless make any money from this or just the organization?

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/13/homeless-people-turned-into-walking-wifi-hotspots-in-charitable-experiment/

"I'd do it in a second. Out of every 20 people who sit down at my stand, at least six are on their iPhone or their BlackBerry or something trying to get Internet. I see it as a business opportunity. And you're giving me a shirt, too? I have no problem with it."

You know that this brings a whole new meaning to B2P. Maybe B2N: Bum 2 Net.

Please don't tell me that Homeless people are smarter than we are:


Text 1Danny1 to bitcoin Danny 1 BTC. (used as a verb)

[Global BTC]

Why does this job need to be given only to homeless people? If they are paid less than a normal worker would be (and they are, since they aren't paid anything at all), I'd say this is profiteering off the poor.

[Vitalik Buterin]

Why does this job need to be given only to homeless people? If they are paid less than a normal worker would be (and they are, since they aren't paid anything at all), I'd say this is profiteering off the poor.

I would imagine anyone can take it. It's just that homeless people just happen to be the ones that have the most free time and gain the most marginal value from money. And there is no such thing as a "normal worker"; each job has its own required set of skills and its own supply/demand curve so you can't really say one kind of work is more exploitative than another.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Why does this job need to be given only to homeless people? If they are paid less than a normal worker would be (and they are, since they aren't paid anything at all), I'd say this is profiteering off the poor.

I would imagine anyone can take it. It's just that homeless people just happen to be the ones that have the most free time and gain the most marginal value from money. And there is no such thing as a "normal worker"; each job has its own required set of skills and its own supply/demand curve so you can't really say one kind of work is more exploitative than another.

Take a moment to view this video. Perhaps you, the reader, will gain a different perspective on this important issue. http://video.foxnews.com/v/1503882449001/homeless-turned-into-4g-hotspots

~Bruno~

[Matthew N. Wright]

Why does this job need to be given only to homeless people? If they are paid less than a normal worker would be (and they are, since they aren't paid anything at all), I'd say this is profiteering off the poor.

Because they have the least chance to make money.

(Except the ones in Laguna Beach, CA which can make upwords of $100 a day just begging to tourists, which they throw away on alcohol nightly. The $100, not the tourists.)

[LoupGaroux]

Why does this job need to be given only to homeless people? If they are paid less than a normal worker would be (and they are, since they aren't paid anything at all), I'd say this is profiteering off the poor.

Because they have the least chance to make money.

(Except the ones in Laguna Beach, CA which can make upwords of $100 a day just begging to tourists, which they throw away on alcohol nightly. The $100, not the tourists.)

Been to Laguna Beach lately? Throw away as many tourists as you want, there will be more in the morning.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Been to Laguna Beach lately? Throw away as many tourists as you want, there will be more in the morning.

Not lately. I lived there and managed some retail businesses there in the last decade though.