14-03-2012, 02:09 AM
Organizers Defend "Homeless Hotspots" at SXSW
The talk of Austin is a jarring campaign in which homeless people actually become Wi-Fi hotspots. "The worry is that these people are suddenly just hardware," admits its organizer.![[Image: jwherrman-12989-1330798666-7_large.jpg]](http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/user_images/web05/2012/3/3/13/jwherrman-12989-1330798666-7_large.jpg)
John Herrman BuzzFeed Staff
More from John Herrman Source: hardlynormal.posterous.com
At SXSW, the annual tech startup conference in Austin, 13 homeless men are hanging around the conference center wearing white shirts that say "I'm _____, a 4G hotspot." Each is carrying a wireless internet device, and for a PayPal donation, will provide conference-goers with internet access for as long as they want. .
The men are part of a campaign called "Homeless Hotspots," devised by a marketing firm called BBH. It effectively debuted today, and started backfiring immediately.
The first person to flag the stunt as a little off was the New York Times's David Gallagher, who called the plan it "a little dystopian." Since then, the Internet's been aghast: The story has been both amplified and deprived of context, inspiring thousands of knee-jerk responses. It's really not going over very well at all.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-sx...nes-flippi