Last week, Prince William made an appearance at SXSW London for an event connected to the Diana Award. He went to SXSW straight from a pub, and I wish I was joking. The pub visit might explain William’s bizarre comments about not knowing anything about menstruation. Well, his SXSW appearance went so “well,” William decided to stop by London Tech Week today for a panel discussion. It’s funny how William does these kinds of appearances and panel discussions these days too – a decade ago, he rarely made speeches or appeared on panels. So what was William’s panel discussion about? Homelessness and the tech industry. Check this out:
Prince William has told the tech industry that homelessness rarely happens without warning – and technology could help to solve the issue. The prince told London Tech Week that data, technology and businesses could spot the warning signs of homelessness early and prevent homelessness before it occurs.
“The earlier you deal with a problem, the better, as we all know in life,” said Prince William. “There’s no one problem that fixes homelessness. It’s multifaceted; it’s many different things. Many of your customers, your clients, will be using data through banking apps, through their phones. I’m not sure you realise how much that data can be used to predict and see problems with potential homelessness before they actually arise.”
Homewards, the prince’s homelessness programme, is launching the Homelessness Data Lab, which will employ techniques currently used by businesses to “ethically and responsibly” identify people at risk of homelessness at its earliest stages, when support can have the greatest impact.
Prince William highlighted how technology can be harnessed as a force for good with the potential to help to prevent homelessness not just in the UK, but globally. The project will be partnered with Salesforce and the UK property charity LandAid.
I’m sorry but… what? They want banks, cell phone providers and private companies to spy on people to predict potential homelessness? This sounds less about preventing homelessness and more like giving banks and businesses unfettered permission for an outrageous breach of sensitive data collection. It also sounds like they’re more concerned about monitoring homelessness rather than solving homelessness. I know the argument is likely something along the lines “there isn’t enough real-time data on homelessness, and that information will help us target people falling through the cracks.” But this makes my blood run cold – the idea of banks, cell phone companies and private businesses collecting their client/customers’ data and handing it off to Work-shy Willy’s homeless busywork scheme. Everyone has the right to privacy, even unhoused people! WTAF.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
