AUSTIN, Tex. — Which product at this year's South by Southwest technology conference received more attention than perhaps any other?
Homeless people as wireless transmitters.
A marketing agency touched off a wave of criticism and debate when it hired members of the local homeless population to walk around carrying mobile Wi-Fi devices, offering conferencegoers Internet access in exchange for donations.
BBH Labs, the innovation unit of the international marketing agency BBH, outfitted 13 volunteers from a homeless shelter with the devices, business cards and T-shirts bearing their names: "I'm Clarence, a 4G Hotspot."
They were told to go to the most densely packed areas of the conference, which has become a magnet for those who want to chase the latest in technology trends.
The smartphone-toting, social-networking crowds often overwhelm cellular networks in the area, creating a market that BBH Labs hoped to serve with the "Homeless Hotspots" project, which it called a "charitable experiment."
It paid each participant $20 a day, and they were also able to keep whatever customers donated in exchange for the wireless service.
But as word of the project spread on the ground and online, it hit a nerve among many who said that turning down-and-out people into wireless towers was exploitative and discomfiting.
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[There's some discussion of people's opinions about all this at the link, but it's clear that if you wanna be HOT in Texas ya oughta strap on yer collar and go mingle. ... ???]