SXSW Turns Homeless Into Wi-Fi

If it were a metaphor, it'd still be a very bad idea. But it's real. Homeless people at the South by Southwest music and interactive festival in Texas have had 4G routers strapped on them and been turned into wireless hotspots. The program, a "charitable experiment" started by advertising agency BBH Labs, allows the already hip and connected festivalgoers to pay a whatever-you-wish donation to get Wi-Fi access. Wired magazine's Tim Carmody slammed the idea: "The homeless turned not just into walking, talking hotspots, but walking, talking billboards for a program that doesn’t care anything at all about them or their future."