City-Provided Wi-Fi Rejected Over "Health Concerns"

exphose writes "A small, hippie-friendly town in northern California, Sebastopol, had made an agreement with Sonic.net to provide free Wi-Fi across the downtown area. However, not everyone in town was pleased with the arrangement. According to Sebastopol Mayor Craig Litwin, citizens had voiced concerns that 'create enough suspicion that there may be a health hazard' and so they canceled their contract with Sonic.net. Some more details are at the blog of Sonic.net's CEO."

Comments

Lay off the weed, man!

[Ngarrang]

It's time to lay off the weed, me thinks. WiFi signals are as harmless as any other radio signal. I suppose they may try to get FM and AM radio blocked, as well? I am curious, though, if these same people just happen to be carrying cell phones.

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[pipatron]

considering that we're constantly being exposed to low levels of background radiation, and higher levels of radiation from the Sun.

You know, you might have hit it right on the spot there. People seem to confuse different types of radiation. They assume that just because it's called "radiation", it's the same as the ionizing radiation from the earth and from those evil nucular power stations! It's completely different. A campfire radiates heat, that doesn't mean it will give you cancer.

Electromagnetic radiation doesn't even begin to affect us until they are about one million times higher in frequency than cellphones and wifi. Then we're talking about UV-light, and we have a pretty strong source of that hanging over our heads during the day. I never see EM-sensitive people complain about the sun.

Re:Lay off the weed, man!

[jridley]

I bought and live in a house near high voltage lines. Remember the distance-squared law? If you're worried about high voltage power lines 400 feet from a house, you should be very concerned about the 110v 2 feet away in the wall, and absolutely terrified by an electric blanket a fraction of an inch away!

well, fortunately

[nguy]

Fortunately, non-free WiFi and non-open WiFi doesn't have the same kinds of health hazards.

from the blog

[Brian Gordon]

When it's at it's highest power level, you hold it next to your head to conduct a conversation. Ever notice that your skin gets warm after a long call? That's the only side effect of RF energy - warming.

Uh I thought it was because it's a computer that has no way to shed heat other than to bleed it out into the air / someone's face.

Re:from the blog

[Gordonjcp]

Yes. There is absolutely *no way* that a mobile phone can cause appreciable RF heating. A microwave oven heats water, because it's an incredibly powerful microwave source at a very specific frequency focused into a resonant metal box. A mobile phone typically produces 1/1000th as much power, and spreads it as evenly as possible around the antenna.

Self damning

[Dan East]

I find it ironic that the CEO makes a grossly inaccurate statement that actually hurts his cause:

Compare this to the mobile phone that you keep in your pocket, which is typically three to ten times this power level. When it's at it's highest power level, you hold it next to your head to conduct a conversation. Ever notice that your skin gets warm after a long call? That's the only side effect of RF energy - warming.

The warmth of a cell phone has nothing to do with RF. It is waste heat generated directly by the transmitter - it is not the result of RF energy being absorbed by the skin and converted to heat. Even low-frequency transmitters get very hot when transmitting. VHF and UHF mobile rigs, like those used by emergency services and amateur radio operators, have huge (relative to the size of the radio) heatsinks on the back to dissipate the heat so the final stage electronics are not fried. My amateur handheld (Yaesu VX-7R quad band) can transmit at 5 watts, and the magnesium case literally gets so hot at that output power that it is difficult to hold. That is transmitting at frequencies vastly lower than cell-phones (144-148 MHz) which pass right through skin. It's not the antenna that gets hot, or my head, it is the case housing the transmitter.

Also, batteries get warm when generating high amperage, especially really compact batteries like lithium-ion. So that also contributes to the warmth of a transmitting cell phone.

Kinda irrelevant

[Moraelin]

Disclaimer: I'm not among the "electrosensitive" crowd, and I couldn't care less about routers and cell-phones.

That said, I find the "but there's a big nuke overhead!!!" argument just as bunk.

The fact is: you don't get all the frequencies from that ball of light. There's this thick atmosphere, including such layers as the ozone layer and the ionosphere. Plus such things as the water in the atmosphere which are just as good there at absorbing a certain band of microwaves, as, well, when you heat water in your microwave. These things absorb almost anything to the left of infrared or to the right of UV-B.

Let's just say there's a reason why they worry about shielding the craft in which they'll send a man to mars. Or why the gamma ray telescopes are put in orbit, and not at ground level. Or why over-the-horizon radar can actually see beyond the horizon, by bouncing the signal on the ionosphere. It's just as almost-opaque to those signals from the other side, you know.

So, yes, you have a big nuke over your head, but you also have some hundreds of kilometres of damn good shielding between you and it. Most frequencies outside the visible spectrum, or nearby, you're _not_ getting the full radiation of that nuke. You're getting them in homeopathic doses, if at all.

Even briefer: It doesn't prove what you think it proves. Sorry. It's as irrelevant as saying that heat can't kill because you have billions of tons of molten lava under your feet and it hasn't killey you yet.

Re:maurer is a fraud?

[Cheesey]

She should call James Randi, since she apparently has the paranormal ability to detect radio waves. For $1m, she could buy herself a nice big Faraday cage.