Scan a homeless person?

[MickiQ]

Terry in the video looked incredibly uncomfortable with it all to say the least, moral qualms aside this doesn't strike me as all that well thought out an idea.
I don't think many homeless people would be keen to sign up for a scheme where they beg for money for someone else to decide how its spent and enables their location to be tracked, many of these people actively want to disappear.
What happens if the QR code is lost or stolen? It seems to me that it would be a high value target for the lowlifes that prey on the homeless, i can see the codes being nicked and then used to try and obtain money fraudently from whoever is managing it. The homeless are a group who find it hard to prove their identity anyway and impersonating them is probably dead easy.

If I was on the streets right now I'd be well up for this. Get tarquin to show you his phone to make a donation so you can decide if it's worth nicking before you mug him

And this is a good point it won't take long for someone to realise this, get themselves a fake QR code and have off with someone's latest smartphone, this only needs to happen 2 or 3 times to undermine the whole scheme.

 

[Athos]

I'm struggling to see a single positive thing about this idea. And the idea of making homelessness a commodity and limiting homeless peoples' agency says something very unpleasant about our society's basic humanity. Fucking gross.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Fucked up indeed but I have to admit that whereas in the past I invariably had change on me when asked, more recently I don’t as I have become more reliant on contactless payment for day to day stuff. It must be having a significant impact on homeless people’s income

Yes, which is why I’m not in principle against a mechanism to allow for electronic payments to individual homeless people but in practice there are troubling issues about how this would be done and by whom. The pilot scheme in Oxford is certainly not encouraging.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

A refused asylum seeker for example- people who are hugely likely to end up in the street. This scheme would be horrendous for them.

Yes, this is probably the most worrying aspect of it.

 

[iona]

Begging is actually illegal (under the Vagrancy Act 1824 iirc) too so how the fuck does that work?

 

[Nylock]

And one more thing...I'm proud to announce our latest innovation: DigitalAltruism.

It's a revolutionary new smart technology that allows you to put your money directly into the hands of those that need it most, with none of the hassle of coins or notes. Digital donations from Altruist to Homeless, available at your fingertips.

In many ways the Homeless were the original pioneers of the cashless economy revolution. With this disruptive technology, we're giving back, by bringing the next chapter to their world: the Homeless economy.

Rate your Homeless on their speed, politeness and gratitude and we'll use this data to give a combined Homeless rating that allows Altruists to be matched with a Homeless whose goals best align with their own. The data is stored on our proprietary blockchain technology to ensure integrity of the Altruist/Homeless relationship, independent of a centralised server or authority.

The Homeless can check in at any one of our partner locations in the city and you'll receive alerts when they do. We have partnerships with foodbanks, hostels and drug testing clinics. Send feedback on their choices and results to strengthen their positive behaviours and increase your relationship rank.

Share your Altruism score with your friends with social networking integration on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Super Altruists are those whose Homeless complete the most goals, and they'll be able to influence the choices of the Homeless who are not currently matched with an Altruist, allowing their expertise to guide those new to the network, even when not directly making a donation.

One milestone in active development is embedded GPS tags so that when you fall behind on your daily altruistic objectives and need to catch up in a hurry, a Homeless can be ordered to your current location to bring you closer to your goal in a hurry. We're making waiting around to donate a thing of the past!

With your support and our technology - together, we can make the Homeless work better.

Flesh it out and send it off to the black mirror writing team!

whoa there. i think it might do the likes of boris johnson, nigel farage and indeed david cameron and tony blair some good.

If the begging was along the lines of 'Please don't send me off to work on the trans-antarctic railway...'

 

[Pickman's model]

Flesh it out and send it off to the black mirror writing team!


If the begging was along the lines of 'Please don't send me off to work on the trans-antarctic railway...'

they need not fear that, they will be digging canals on south georgia.

 

[Fez909]

Begging is actually illegal (under the Vagrancy Act 1824 iirc) too so how the fuck does that work?

So this disruptor cunt should be done for facilitating crime

 

[keybored]

I'm struggling to see a single positive thing about this idea.

It'll snooker those fuckers who walk past mumbling about having no change while staring into their latest iPhone.

 

[Pickman's model]

It'll snooker those fuckers who walk past mumbling about having no change while staring into their latest iPhone.

i've often thought how shit the pickings begging must be these days when an increasing number of people carry no cash.

 

[Teaboy]

Yeah, I rarely have change on me these days.

 

[Chilli.s]

loose change is specifically to give to homeless. That's reason enough to carry some.

 

[MickiQ]

Some cash is essential even today, the network playing up isn't going to stop you spending a £10 note.
But there are loads of reasons to carry change.
Car Parking
Taxis
Small Purchases I can't imagine using a card to buy a bar of chocolate for example.
Tipping, whilst I usually pay for food by card, I flatly refuse to add a tip via the machine since I doubt the wait staff are ever going to see it.
Give to someone else, beggars if I feel sorry for them, buskers if they're any good and charity tin rattlers if I think it is a worthy cause

 

[Teaboy]

Some cash is essential even today, the network playing up isn't going to stop you spending a £10 note.
But there are loads of reasons to carry change.
Car Parking
Taxis -
Small Purchases I can't imagine using a card to buy a bar of chocolate for example.
Tipping, whilst I usually pay for food by card, I flatly refuse to add a tip via the machine since I doubt the wait staff are ever going to see it.
Give to someone else, beggars if I feel sorry for them, buskers if they're any good and charity tin rattlers if I think it is a worthy cause

See here is the thing. And I'm talking about London here because that's where I live.

Parking - All done by apps
Taxis - Uber etc
Small purchases - Just tap away, in fact increasingly I'm seeing places that say 'card only' because they don't want the hassle that cash brings.
Tipping - That's done by notes due to the cost of eating out etc

Add this to the fact a lot of prices are round up to the nearest 50P means even when I pay in cash I don't get much back in change. Cash is fast disappearing from my life and not in the way it normally did.

 

[moochedit]

Tipping - That's done by notes due to the cost of eating out etc

some restaurants let you add a tip into a card payment, although i think i remember a story where a union said a chain was taking a cut out of the staff's "tips" when paid by card.

 

[Teaboy]

some restaurants let you add a tip into a card payment, although i think i remember a story where a union said a chain was taking a cut out of the staff's "tips" when paid by card.

Yeah that goes straight into the company coffers, if the poor sod who has served you is lucky they may get a few percent of it. Always try and tip in cash I reckon.

 

[moochedit]

Shit idea for all the reasons said on here.

I have seen stories before about buskers and big issue sellers taking card payments.

Big Issue to give homeless people tap-and-go terminals to prevent falling sales
Buskers to start taking contactless card payments in London
Why Oxford buskers are now taking contactless payments | Oxford Mail

But beggers with QR codes is fucked up.

 

[Athos]

Shit idea for all the reasons said on here.

I have seen stories before about buskers and big issue sellers taking card payments.

Big Issue to give homeless people tap-and-go terminals to prevent falling sales
Buskers to start taking contactless card payments in London
Why Oxford buskers are now taking contactless payments | Oxford Mail

But beggers with QR codes is fucked up.

My mate swears he saw a coke dealer in Hackney taking payment on cards.

 

[eatmorecheese]

There's a YouTube video (can't find it) showing a beggar in an unnamed city in India offering a card reader to a punter that claimed they didn't have cash...

Where does this go? As cash becomes scarcer, will those who offer cash as payment be stigmatised as potentially dodgy?

 

[moochedit]

My mate swears he saw a coke dealer in Hackney taking payment on cards.

Well if true i would think he would get caught pretty quickly unless he has an convincing explanation of what they were paying him for.

Actually was just thinking that since i gave up weed i think the only thing i use cash for now is the sandwich van that comes to my work place.

 

[ddraig]

Not the same but they did this in Cardiff on a shop front on busy street
some people asked how much it cost and who was getting paid
It wasn't there that long and bit of a song and dance was made about it

 

[mango5]

And one more thing...I'm proud to announce our latest innovation: DigitalAltruism.

It's a revolutionary new smart technology that allows you to put your money directly into the hands of those that need it most, with none of the hassle of coins or notes. Digital donations from Altruist to Homeless, available at your fingertips.

In many ways the Homeless were the original pioneers of the cashless economy revolution. With this disruptive technology, we're giving back, by bringing the next chapter to their world: the Homeless economy.

Rate your Homeless on their speed, politeness and gratitude and we'll use this data to give a combined Homeless rating that allows Altruists to be matched with a Homeless whose goals best align with their own. The data is stored on our proprietary blockchain technology to ensure integrity of the Altruist/Homeless relationship, independent of a centralised server or authority.

The Homeless can check in at any one of our partner locations in the city and you'll receive alerts when they do. We have partnerships with foodbanks, hostels and drug testing clinics. Send feedback on their choices and results to strengthen their positive behaviours and increase your relationship rank.

Share your Altruism score with your friends with social networking integration on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Super Altruists are those whose Homeless complete the most goals, and they'll be able to influence the choices of the Homeless who are not currently matched with an Altruist, allowing their expertise to guide those new to the network, even when not directly making a donation.

One milestone in active development is embedded GPS tags so that when you fall behind on your daily altruistic objectives and need to catch up in a hurry, a Homeless can be ordered to your current location to bring you closer to your goal in a hurry. We're making waiting around to donate a thing of the past!

With your support and our technology - together, we can make the Homeless work better.

Wow that sounds like the kind of thing I get to read for real in my occasional day job. I rarely have the stomach even to listen politely these days. Your effort is worthy of the shiniest #tech4good #socialinnovation award

 

[MickiQ]

some restaurants let you add a tip into a card payment, although i think i remember a story where a union said a chain was taking a cut out of the staff's "tips" when paid by card.

I don't trust them at all, I have asked and been told "Yeah it goes straight to Joe's salary" but I just don't believe it, not least because someone would have to create a way to tie up the card payment with a specific bill
and having written code for similar systems I know how much work would actually be involved. I suspect even where it is returned to the servers, it just calculates a ball park figure per restaurant based on sales.
Middle daughter did some waitressing when she was a student and she told me all tips went into a jar that got shared out equitably between kitchen and wait staff.
If the staff want to share their tips then it should be something they've agreed amongst themselves not something devised by a bean counter at Head Office and implemented by some disinterested programmer.
When we eat out I alway carry enough cash to leave a tip if I want. Mostly do but sometimes don't if I think the waiter is an arse.
Generally tipping is a good idea most of the time, last time we went to Stratford, Mrs MickiQ forgot her scarf and I had to go back and ask for it after about 30 mins, They had put it to one side for us, I suspect that if I hadn't tipped properly they would have just denied all knowledge.

 

[Fez909]

Middle daughter did some waitressing when she was a student and she told me all tips went into a jar that got shared out equitably between kitchen and wait staff.
If the staff want to share their tips then it should be something they've agreed amongst themselves not something devised by a bean counter at Head Office and implemented by some disinterested programmer.

This is yet another reason why tipping is bullshit.

Why should the chef not be able to get tips? If the front of house staff decide they don't want to share, then the chef gets nothing, even though a lot of people might be tipping for the quality of the food, rather than the service.

I hate tipping, it should fuck right off. Pay your staff properly, and if that means charging more, so be it.

 

[moochedit]

Fucked up indeed but I have to admit that whereas in the past I invariably had change on me when asked, more recently I don’t as I have become more reliant on contactless payment for day to day stuff. It must be having a significant impact on homeless people’s income

Yeah just been reading this article below about the issue of people not carrying any change anymore.It is definately going to be an increasing problem.

Cashless Society: Spare change is dying, and the UK's homeless people are worried | WIRED UK

Since becoming homeless again, Natalie has noticed that more and more people have apologised for not having change. “They seemed to have a lot more to give [back in 2014].

Some Big Issue vendors have taken to sourcing their own card machines – readers like iZettle or Sum Up. But, says magazine vendor Martin, this has its own issues. “A few of the sellers have got card readers, but for that you need a bank account, and for a bank account you need an address and an ID. You also need a data connection and it’s very difficult to get a hotspot.”

Using card readers might actually backfire, given how the adoption of technology is widely regarded as out of character for the homeless. “Poverty is associated with a lack of technology,” says Brett Scott, a campaigner and expert on financial automation. “And that's partly what convinces people that someone's in need.” The presence of devices like card readers changes the psychological dynamic of how people think about homeless people, he says.

 

[Sasaferrato]

And one more thing...I'm proud to announce our latest innovation: DigitalAltruism.

It's a revolutionary new smart technology that allows you to put your money directly into the hands of those that need it most, with none of the hassle of coins or notes. Digital donations from Altruist to Homeless, available at your fingertips.

In many ways the Homeless were the original pioneers of the cashless economy revolution. With this disruptive technology, we're giving back, by bringing the next chapter to their world: the Homeless economy.

Rate your Homeless on their speed, politeness and gratitude and we'll use this data to give a combined Homeless rating that allows Altruists to be matched with a Homeless whose goals best align with their own. The data is stored on our proprietary blockchain technology to ensure integrity of the Altruist/Homeless relationship, independent of a centralised server or authority.

The Homeless can check in at any one of our partner locations in the city and you'll receive alerts when they do. We have partnerships with foodbanks, hostels and drug testing clinics. Send feedback on their choices and results to strengthen their positive behaviours and increase your relationship rank.

Share your Altruism score with your friends with social networking integration on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Super Altruists are those whose Homeless complete the most goals, and they'll be able to influence the choices of the Homeless who are not currently matched with an Altruist, allowing their expertise to guide those new to the network, even when not directly making a donation.

One milestone in active development is embedded GPS tags so that when you fall behind on your daily altruistic objectives and need to catch up in a hurry, a Homeless can be ordered to your current location to bring you closer to your goal in a hurry. We're making waiting around to donate a thing of the past!

With your support and our technology - together, we can make the Homeless work better.

© George Orwell.