$500k toronto subway digital art installation kept offline over hate speech fears - interactive digital board

The traffic authority of the storyteller declined to launch an interactive digital art device worth $500,000 for one of its new subway stations.
The ceiling display hanging above the pioneer villa is called light spell, allowing the public to enter eight-
Letter information and play it under bright lights above the subway platform.
But the Toronto Transportation CommissionTTC)
Keeping artwork offline for the foreseeable future is justified by concerns about "hate speech and the possibility of some people abusing devices ".
TTC spokesman stuart green said in an email statement: "The senior management has not been aware of the possibility of misuse until recently, so the tc has recently tried to find a solution.
This is a "surprise" for Tim Edler"
The founder of the German art group "union", which designed the magic.
As it happened, he told the guest host Helen man that the group had been working hard to complete the work since 2009 and had several meetings with the ttc leadership.
"We have had several rounds of discussions on issues such as blasphemy," he said . ".
"There is a possibility of loss of information.
Of course, these things have been discussed before.
"The allegations against the review body TTC stated that it was working to resolve the issue and that if a compromise could not be reached, the matter would be referred to the board on January.
However, Edler is not satisfied with the solution that has been on the table so far.
TTC, he said, suggested creating a "whitelist" of acceptable terms that one could enter in a subway terminal that controls the installation --
He called it "an ironic twist on the original idea ".
"I mean, if we provide text that allows people to enter, it sounds more like North Korea to me than Canada," he said . ".
Another option is to program filters to block certain terms.
But Elder says it can backfire if people "turn it into a game" and figure out how to bypass the filter.
Instead, he said TTC should try and see what happens.
If social pressure does not stop people from writing terrible things, then the Communist Party will examine each other, he said.
"It's really easy to go to one of the terminals and press the button and say, 'I want this to be deleted,' and it will be deleted immediately," he said . ".
"Freedom of speech, not hate speech," says Stewart, while the art collection group believes that the decision to keep the device offline equals censorship, and we support freedom of speech, not hate speech.
"We are trying to reach a compromise with artists who respect their concepts while recognizing their obligation and responsibility to provide a safe and welcoming environment for all," he said . ".
At the same time, visiting the new subway station in Toronto, he said he was pleased that the issue had been aired publicly.
"I think it also gives people the opportunity to think about whether providing a technical review mechanism is really what we all want, or whether we think that once we have created new forms of expression for people as well, there should be some risks in the end, "he said.
"I hope it's the latter.