Real-Time Portal Linking New York and Dublin Shut Down After Just One Week Due to ‘Inappropriate Behavior’

What works between Lithuania and Poland might not fly between New York and Dublin.

Ambitious plans to connect major cities around the world with experimental portal technology hit a speed bump last week. Just days after the first intercontinental portal linking New York and Dublin went online, authorities were forced to shut it down amid reports of unruly conduct.

These portals – a clever concept by Lithuanian artist Benediktas Gylys – allow participating cities to livestream footage of their locations to each other through a large circular screen. And while the concept has succeeded between cities like Warsaw and Vilnius in Poland and Lithuania with few issues so far, the cultural divide between the Big Apple and Irish capital appears to have proved too vast in this trial run.

The portal, which was supposed to be a fun and interactive way for people in both cities to connect, was shut down after only a week due to “inappropriate behavior.” News reports mention people flashing, grinding on the portal, and even sharing upsetting images of the 11 September attacks to New York viewers.

Within a week, both municipalities agreed to suspend the portal link until protocols could be established. Irish and American officials are now working on a rematch, but civic leaders worry the technology could enable a culture clash of Brobdingnagian proportions.

The portal experiment had raised hopes of erasing geographic barriers, with other cities set to link up. But this initial failure underscores the human challenges in an entirely new mode of transit.

That said, the portal is expected to reopen later this year and it has to be noted that the overwhelming majority of visitors reportedly used the portal appropriately.

“While we cannot control all of these actions, we are implementing some technical solutions to address this and these will go live in the next 24 hours,” the Dublin City Council said in a statement on Monday.

At the same time, the Flatiron Nomad Partnership, the body responsible for the installation on the NYC side, promised software updates “to limit such behaviour appearing on the livestream”.

After the bumpy New York-Dublin debut, it is yet to be seen how technical advances could clear cultural hurdles.

Sources: 1, 2, 3