Will next year’s SXSW Interactive feature competing hordes of economically displaced Americans roving the mean streets of Austin, vying for the online connectivity of privileged out-of-towners?
The use of the homeless residents from an Austin shelter to market a Wi-Fi service gave rise to a piece in The New York Times and there have been many snide, uncomfortable quips about HoboNet vs. BumCom. Behind the jarring sight (and site) and idea of using impoverished people as 4G hotspots — yes, really — is a conversation that largely occurs in whispered, hush tones among SXSW attendees.
A glance at any of the lobbies of the overpriced hotels surrounding the Austin Convention Center, as well as the lobby of the center itself, reveals an ocean of Chinese slave labor (in the form of Apple products) that dwarfs the Great Wall. You can practically see the misery from space. Their gadgets’ owners are freshly bathed and presumably blessed with high credit scores.
Outside, however, is a decidedly different scene. Everywhere you look on the Sixth Street main drag are the homeless, dispossessed and desperate, occasionally yelling at those who refuse their requests for spare cash. It’s class warfare in unusually sharp relief. But give this to BBH, the marketing agency behind the gimmick: Insensitive or not, at least they put a few bucks into the pockets of the local population. (Very few bucks: $20 a day, reportedly.)
Austin is becoming a city divided. It has been gaining some new jobs since the recession began. Yet poverty is increasing. One in five people live below the federal poverty line — 5 percentage points above the national average — according to census statistics cited by the Austin American-Statesman.
You could almost call it Occupy Austin: The 1 percent of technorati are sucking up all the light and media attention, but the 99 percent who aren’t doing well lie mostly in the shadows. So, let’s give BBH that as well: They’ve drawn some attention to a social issue that often goes underreported.
More stories about life on the Internet from msnbc.com:
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- Rainn Wilson smashes guitars, blows your mind
- Porcine abomination and other things I fear at SXSW, the nerd's Woodstock
- Nerd king Joss Whedon loves you, too
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.