Editor's Note: There's been a lot of talk lately about "helping" the homeless, with some people proposing things like teaching coding to using graphic design (see this Wired Opinion on the mindset of technology solutionism). So it's interesting that free software advocate Richard Stallman just shared this idea for a location-based platform -- which applies to anyone, not just the homeless -- to "manage honest begging." (By the way: when asked what he thought of those other recent proposals, Stallman replied, "What's wrong ... is that it seems to suppose that homeless people in general could be helped this way. It could at most help only a few.")
In this country, many people can't afford food, and some find themselves stuck away from home with no money. It is good to help them. Many addicts ask for money pretending it is for food or transportation, and it is bad to be taken advantage of this way. But how can we tell the difference between them?
As I was walking through the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, a man asked me for some money to help him buy a bus ticket to Boston. These tickets on Greyhound are rather expensive nowadays. I told him that if I knew he was telling the truth, I would contribute; but people had lied to me before when asking for money for transit, and I had no way to verify what he said.
But what if he was telling the truth? It was a shame there was no way I could ascertain this so as to help him -- and then a way occurred to me: Greyhound could manage our donations and make sure they are used according to what we were told.
I'm not suggesting that Greyhound give people bus tickets. Of course, a company doesn't care about people who are in trouble, but even if it did care, it could not give out tickets just because someone says he needs help. The staff can't tell, any more than we can, whether someone that asks for help is telling the truth. The company would be taken advantage of by people who would otherwise have paid for a ticket.
No, this is a more subtle idea. Greyhound would not contribute the money; rather, it would receive and hold donations from the public on behalf of the person who needs help.
[#contributor: /contributors/59327110a312645844994e4d]|||Free/libre software advocate Richard Stallman is president of the Free Software Foundation. He launched the development of the [free software](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) operating system [GNU](http://www.gnu.org/gnu/the-gnu-project.html) in 1984; the [GNU/Linux](http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html) system (essentially GNU with Linux added) is used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman also founded the League for Programming Freedom, which campaigned against legal threats to programming (including patents).|||
The person requesting donations would go to Greyhound and register that he is looking for charity for a ticket. He would get a paper printed with his photo that says what ticket he is collecting for, and says "$40.95 needed". If someone wants to donate 5 dollars, she would go to the ticket counter with the requester, they'd hand these things over, and the requester would get back a new paper that says, "$35.95 needed." When eventually the entire fare is paid, the requester would get a nonrefundable ticket marked "charity" with his photo, valid for the next few days.
If the person gives up without fully paying for the ticket, whatever money was raised could go to the Red Cross or some other charity that hardly anyone disapproves of.
Once this is set up, the operation would hardly cost Greyhound anything, and it would enable the public to help people who really need help.
Convenience stores could easily use a similar system so we can help people who need money for food. I do this informally; if someone asks for money for the sake of food, I offer to go with him to a store and buy food for him. I don't mind spending five dollars on food for a destitute person once in a while.
But if people would like to give a dollar, which is not enough to buy real food, a system like this could enable them to do so, usefully.
Enabling us to identify the people who honestly ask for certain kinds of help is no substitute for a welfare state. We need a government that will tax the rich and businesses fairly (much more than now), promote good jobs, and assure everyone the means for a decent life. But even with a functioning welfare state, people will sometimes find themselves broke and far from home.
[see bio link for Stallman's Creative Commons license and copyright notice]
Wired Opinion Editor: Sonal Chokshi @smc90
