Slashdot Mirror
London Launches World's First Contactless Payment Scheme For Street Performers (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Here's a casualty of the cashless society you might not have previously thought of: the humble street performer. After all, if more of us are paying our way with smartphones and contactless cards, how can we give spare change to musicians on the subway? London has one solution: a new scheme that outfits performers with contactless payment terminals. The project was launched this weekend by the city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, and is a collaboration with Busk In London (a professional body for buskers) and the Swedish payments firm iZettle (which was bought this month by PayPal for $2.2 billion). A select few performers have been testing iZettle's contactless readers on the streets for the past few weeks, and Khan now says the scheme will be rolled out across London's 32 boroughs.
Not the crusty jugglers. Who's next? Homeless people?
...that some enterprising busker does not put the reader at waist height in a crowded area and gain hundreds of "taps" from unsuspecting passersby.
So their modest income is now trackable by the government, if not now, very soon. It’s only a matter of time until even the oldest profession in the world is monitored by governments for taxes due.
It feels weird saying this but street performers in China have had QR codes for both WeChat and Alipay for a while now. It's been around so long it isn't even an a novelty any more.
I have seen a street performer with a QR code panel for payments.
Looks like a great way to do contactless pickpocketing?
Isn’t this the reason they exist?
#DeleteChrome
I thought one of the advantages of a cashless society was the minimization of street solicitation via restriction of payment opportunities.
And they're jailing journalists for engaging in journalism.
Except this is not the first. WeChat and AliPay can be used to pay street performers, beggars, homeless bums, etc., and unlike this scheme, they don't require an expensive reader. Just a QR sticker that can be printed out for about 2 cents, and placed on the performer's sign.
Now "Sorry, I don't carry cash" is no excuse.
You can claim that your cell battery is dead.
Ebenezer! When did you start posting on Slashdot?
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
has ever been dumb enough to give money to a street performer?
I have, many times, and in many cities. If they put on a good show, and make me laugh, I am happy to contribute a few bucks to their livelihood and keep street culture alive.
You can claim that your cell battery is dead.
Thanks for the...tip?
Of course, because you're not a jerk. And you never know who the person with his instrument case open on the ground might someday become. The list of famous musicians who were once buskers is very long.
Rod Steward, B.B. King, Steve Martin, Janis Joplin and Robin Williams were all street performers at one time. Busking is an honorable livelihood.
People who say they would never give money to a busker simply do not have any soul whatsoever.
And let's not forget that master musician Sonny Rollins used to walk the few blocks from his New York apartment to play on the Williamsburg Bridge. He ended up getting a famous album out of it, reigniting his career and creating an image that was later used during the introduction to The Simpsons, with Lisa playing on a bridge. I seem to recall Rollins was even in an episode of the show.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Thank you, I appreciate the link.
The judge's comments seem deeply out of touch. More interesting was the the graph and some commentary around it further on in the article. Reported knife crime does seem to be making a marked climb from a recent low.
Below the graph, the following information is provided - fatalities per year from stabbing 186, 212, and 215, respectively for 2015, 2016 and 2017. It then mentions that in the first 100 days of 2018, 53 people have been killed, some by knife. Even if we assume all 53 are knife attacks and we assume the rate remains constant, it would imply that 2018 will have a total of ~180, lower even than 2015. Why not say so? Is 'in the capital' the same as 'in London'? I'd assume so, but in that case why not make it explicit. The way the information is presented is inconsistent - I'd prefer to believe that it's just incompetence, but I'm concerned that this is designed to feed an agenda.
I find knife bans odd for the very reason the judge acknowledges - they are ubiquitous. Banning pointed kitchen blades isn't a solution. Re-shaping a blade is trivial; making a blade is trivial - it's one of the first tools mankind made, second, perhaps, only to a hammer.
This is a good lesson to you younger Slashdotters out there: racism makes you stupid. Look what's happened to poor Brett Buck (811747). He was probably just like you or me at one time, and could tell the difference between a National Front/Fox News fever dream and reality. Now, all he can do is holler things that are provably untrue.
Don't be like Brett Buck. You have your life ahead of you and there's just no coming back from racist insanity when it gets to that point.
You are welcome on my lawn.
There's a significant difference between a street performer and a beggar.
One offers something before they ask for payment; the other just asks for payment. Some performers are crap. Some have heart but no talent. Others are superb. You get to judge the product before you pay.
I've stood in a queue while a busker up the street played several classical pieces on the flute. He was amazing and made the wait a pleasant one. I've waited for friends and stood on the street listening to some musicians jam. Not great, but very fun. I've bought CDs from performers I liked, attended markets where the music was provided by various street performers ranging form the competent to the talented.
I'm not sure where you've been, but I _like_ street culture. I like buskers and performers. They add to the fabric of society and asking people to donate some coin in return for what they've already given away is more than fair.
It depends on the performed...
I don't like being approached and harassed, not only when i walk down the street but also in my own home.
However most of these street performers don't harass anyone, they sit in one location and perform, you are free to walk around and ignore them, or you can choose to stop and watch. Some of them are good, some of them suck, but it's no different than a bar or shop which has music or video playing in the window.
If they passively perform and are good i will happily give them money sometimes...
If they aggressively approach me demanding money, disturbing my day or intentionally blocking my path they will get nothing but a hostile stare from me. This applies not only to buskers, but anyone trying to get something from me either for free or in exchange for something.
If your goods are on display and i like the look of them and/or ask about them thats great, if you aggressively try to sell to me i'm not interested.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
Buskers are not leeches, they provide entertainment. It's no different to you attending a concert, or listening to the radio. If you like the performance you can make a donation, if you don't like it you can ignore it.
I do however totally agree on the leeches who tell you some bullshit story in an attempt to get free cash from you. Most of the ones that claim to be homeless and hungry will refuse food if you offer it to them, they only want cash.
I've offered perfectly good recently bought and unopened food to beggars claiming to be hungry, and most of them have refused it. If they were truly homeless and hungry they would happily accept food even if it wasn't very fresh or clean.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
It's a first world first.
I think that's a sign of a woefully broken society. People aren't meant to (not) interact like this. This isn't healthy.
I don't respond to AC's.
While you do go to some effort to take your somewhat on target point too far, let me reply.
The WHOLE point of this is diversion.
The people who 'feel good' from the idea of the noble busker getting money are happy.
The people who are incensed at the local government putting its effort in to this are up in arms about this payment scheme, therefore diverting them from the things the local government would rather they did not focus on.
So, it is basically a win win for these people.
So yes, they consider it important, because it helps them stay in power doing what they want to do (most of which is kept carefully out of public view).
Ah, but it is not controlled, and more importantly tracked, by the local government (well, it is China, I'm sure they have back door access, but hey).
BTW, WeChat has spread a lot further than China, but not quite as commonly.
It is hard to see how people are thick enough to think that 'cashless society' is an advantage to them.
But people are always going out of their way to impress with their stupidity.
Aren't they always telling you not to give money to beggars too?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
It's just a point-of-sales terminal. Use Apple Pay and relax. And the London mayor is really not part of "the government"
Que?
Not sure what it's like in your country, but in mine if you earn below a given amount (not sure what it is) then you do not pay income tax. Never mind, went and looked it up, if you earn below 1.2 thousand USD a month, obviously converted from our own crappy currency, but you get the idea. If you are above that tax ranges from 18% up to 48% - some years I will get an increase and actually come home with less money because I moved into a new tax bracket.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
Who the hell is going to fish out a visa card, type a value into a reader, swipe / wave the card etc. instead of just tossing a coin in a guitar case?
Yeah cities suck, but you can find shit there. I was living in one of our smaller coastal cities - if we wanted to go to a concert to watch an international band we had to fly to one of the bigger cities. I needed a specific audio cable - had to get it mailed from one of the larger cities - and the posting and packaging cost more than the cable. Upgraded all the families gaming PC's - was cheaper to get it from one of the larger cities. Now bear in mind I WAS living in a city, just a shitty one. Cities have their attractions, traffic is not one of them - but public transport IS.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
Busking is an honorable livelihood.
Busking & other street entertainment can be an honorable livelihood.
It can also be thinly disguised begging / harassment, e.g. those people who board a subway train and play a song to a captive audience whether they want to hear it or not. Or costumed characters who mill around tourist spots (e.g. people dressed as Romans around the Colluseum in Rome), causing trouble for tourists or each other on a regular basis.
The only way to separate legitimate performers from the rest is to require them to hold permits, abide by certain rules about where they may perform and have a system that prevents one group / performer from dominating a particular spot. Providing they have talent then none of these things should prove to be impediments.
Incidentally, London implements a licensing scheme for its public transport. I presume plenty of other cities do the same.
Now "Sorry, I don't carry cash" is no excuse.
You can claim that your cell battery is dead.
Or you could just say no. Works just as well. Mind you if lying because you feel you would otherwise be a bad person makes you feel better about yourself then by all means.
has ever been dumb enough to give money to a street performer?
What has dumb got to do with appreciating some dirt cheap entertainment?
Oh yeah, the same people who will happily charge 2 pounds...oops...decimal point...200 pounds to a random person on the street.
Just because someone is a street performer doesn't mean they are automatically criminals or arsehats. The same can not be said for some Slashdot posters.
The list of famous musicians who were once buskers is very long.
While not famous, I saw the best guitar player at our school who has gone to do great things in the local musical scene busking long after he was able to afford to live as a musician without a second job to support him.
I asked him why, and he just said, why not. The difference between playing at home on the couch and playing here in the subway station is that I get free dinner doing it here.
This is a good lesson to you younger Slashdotters out there: racism makes you stupid.
Except that "muslim" isn't a race.
Who's stupid again?
Put these readers at toilets in central London (and other places) so I can use my contactless to relieve myself when I don't have coins on me. Oyser users may also appreciate it if they can use their card for this purpose too.
"Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
If you stop for more than a minute, you owe them. We are talking about performers, not beggars. The first will get something if they are able to entertain me. The second group I nnever give anything where I live as there is enough of a social net for me not needing to feed their alcoholism or pther addiction. There is also help for thag.
I already pay for it vua taxes. No need to do a gesture just to make mefeel good.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I do this in supermarkets where they trie to push food ir drinks in my face. Sometimes when I say no, they try again. One time a woman was so insisted that I asked uf she understood the concept of "No means no.".
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I have noissue notgiving anything. But I will also not sta d there and then give nothing.
Most of the time I do not stop and go on my way and am annoyed by the speakers they have added, so that I can not ignore it.
If I add money when I am entertained, can I remove money when I am not and am annoyed?
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
He identifies as a journalist, so who are you to say otherwise, you hateful bigot?
Why do you assume buskers and panhandlers are homeless? In some cases, that can pay pretty well (and tax-free too, if you use cash). There's a guy who works a corner with a cardboard sign in my town. His Lexus is nicer than my car.
Have gnu, will travel.
I once put my goods on display in the street. Then I got arrested for frightening the children.
All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
I've read/heard about the "shelter" system in many US cities. Go to a shelter on a cold night, the shelter is full. It's 10p.m. Wait an hour to register. It's 11p.m. Wait around another hour for someone to organize a bus to an empty shelter. 12a.m. Wait another two hours to get to the next shelter. 2a.m. Wait an hour to register there 3a.m. Shower, get to sleep. 4:30am. And you're woken up at 7a.m. For those who think "shelters are free", why don't you pretend to be homeless/destitute and try the system for a night. Or volunteer at a shelter.
You don't have to sign up for an app. The performers are being given contactless payment readers. These work with any contactless credit card.
You can also use Apple Pay or Google Pay if you choose.
The point is to make it as easy as possible to give money. Making people download apps is not the way to do that. Whether you trust a card reader from a random street performer is another matter...
Incidentally, and off topic, the app aspect is a factor with parking. Many UK councils are implementing app methods to pay for parking. Rather than something like this, that works with credit cards or phones, they seem to be adopting apps. And there are loads of them - take a long trip and you could end up being asked to install a permission hungry app for every town you stop in just to pay for parking.
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
The beggars and street bums in San Francisco already are equipped to take credit cards, but this will really step up their game. Thanks, tech industry!
e.g. people dressed as Romans around the Colluseum in Rome
Of course the people who live in Rome dress like Romans. Pretty much by definition. People in Albuquerque dress like Albuquerquians.
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Moving into a new tax bracket should only affect the money that bracket starts at. At least when speaking in regards to USA federal tax income, it's in tiers. The first 10k is at one rate, then 10,000.01-20k will be taxes at a higher rate, the next 10k at a 3rd rate.
Moving into a higher bracket just means that anything earned over the threshold will be taxes at the higher rate. Moving into a new bracket doesn't mean all your prior money is taxed at the highest possible rate.
Maybe things are different in your country, but that's how USA federal income works.
For years, my standard response to the panhandlers infesting our downtown area has been, "Do you take debit?"
If this catches on, I'll have to revert to my former practice of politely asking them to fuck off.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
It would not be cheap, bitcoin has a limited blocksize, e.g. a finite number of transactions per block / unit time, so you need to bid a "tip" to the transactor (miner) to get your transaction included in the next block. That can be next to nothing if there's little competition for transactions, but if the rate of transactions goes up, the average tip needed also increases.
ridiculous, Tommy broadcast about ongoing court proceedings. He filmed defendents entering court, livestreamed it and talked about the case. That's just contempt of court, and "perverting the course of justice" and is equivalent to things like jury tampering in seriousness. It's not valid "journalism" because doing stuff like that undermines the fairness of trials. He got what was coming to him.
The judge blocked people talking about Tommy's case, but only because reporting on that would further jeopardize the original case that Tommy was in trouble for broadcasting details of. e.g. they were trying to avoid causing a mistrial which would mean the entire case that Tommy was talking about would have to be thrown out of court. pulling the sort of BS that Tommy did is what causes guilty people to walk free because of a mistrial. so, no, no sympathy for the asshat, he got what he deserved and the courts were only doing damage control to limit the effects of the BS he caused in the first place.
You don't owe anything for unsolicited performances. Otherwise performers would owe ME money for expending energy to move away from their noise.
Yes that's a good point, they should choose a location that doesn't hinder the flow of pedestrians.
Otherwise it's no problem.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
I identify myself as the pope. Are you going to bow down before me and kiss my ring?
Interestingly when you google his name, what do people in general identify him as? Oh that's right Political Activist. It's right there on his own wikipedia profile. Maybe if he identified himself as a journalist he would get that fixed.
Also you calling someone bigot is a bit pot calling the kettle black don't you think? I mean until you kiss my magical pope ring you have displayed just as much biggotry in this thread as I have.
If you stop for more than a minute, you owe them.
By reading this post the reader hereby declares they will send $1 via paypal to the author to compensate the time spent disputing this stupid arguement.
I'll be waiting for my payment.
Racism itself doesn't make you stupid, the mental gyrations you have to go through to maintain it dull your ability to reason.
Though some on the other side blaming racism for everything seem to have a a similar, though more limited, problem.
When you said "a specific pitch", my mind first went to music. What a boring song that would be...
Where I am moving into a higher tax bracket (per year) increase your percentage tax - for the year. The sliding scale determines your tax percentage, for the year. Not a sliding percentage based on brackets within that, not sure which is worse.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.