Town of Sebastopol, CA rescinds resolution to provide public Wifi
Dale Dougherty, the founder of MAKE, wrote about the Sebastopol (the town in California where MAKE is published) City Council's recent decision to rescind its earlier resolution to provide public wireless access after it received an online petition with 235 "signatures" that read: "The convenience of this technology does not warrant the increase in radiation and the potential risks to the health of our community."
The effect of the resolution would have been to add a few wireless access points downtown. There are already several hundred in private homes and businesses in town. The same people who oppose public wifi still walk along streets and into buildings where they are invisibly bathing in wifi. Will this small group of people now demand that we outlaw wireless in public areas, just to accommodate their fears?LinkNow, I don't know that wireless (or electricity) is without harm. I can read the research that does exist and learn more -- if I have the time and reason to do so. However, I do not like the smell of fear, and when people justify actions based on their own fears, I become suspicious that the concern is unwarranted. If it wasn't wifi, it would be flouride. Something is needed to affix to their anxiety.
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This is a reflection of the dark underbelly of some of our fellow liberals.
Come on, guys, free WiFi for everyone is nothing short of AWESOME for all involved.
Health risks due to radiation?
Please make my brain stop hurting.
It has been deeply painful for me to live here for the past few months as petitions and emails opposing wifi have flown about.
It serves as a litmus test of sorts. The petition list is public and it serves as a cautionary list of people with whom one must be careful while moving sharp or shiny objects.
the wifi from their neighbors isn't sending radiation anyway? if that is even accurate?
I would stand in line for a week to get some free wifi in austin, tx. is all the wifi in Korea killing them? they seem stoked about their good wifi luck!
anyone able to provide sound evidence one way or another as to whether wifi is actually a potential danger?
and please... direct research preferred, hopefully by you. no knee-jerk reactions from either camp.
So I assume no one who signed the petition uses a cell phone? Or understands the inverse-square law?
A thin, malleable sheet of an elemental metal can be formed into a type of head covering that is intended to protect the wearer from nothing in particular but is at least fun to make. The city could issue these to the individuals who signed the petition so everybody else can get their freakin' WiFi.
"However, I do not like the smell of fear, and when people justify actions based on their own fears, I become suspicious that the concern is unwarranted. If it wasn't wifi, it would be flouride."
Or Jews. Or blacks, Hispanics, Muslims... Please free us from our unrelenting fear. Please put Blackwater in the streets so that we can feel safe again from the Liberalhomoislamofascists.
Did you know that Barak HUSSEIN Obama is secret Muslim who will impose sharia when he's elected? It's true, I read it on the Internet.
Free wi-fi is a commie mooslim plot to sap our vital fluids!
So what are they doing to stop radio transmissions, cell phone signals and satellite TV? Wrapping their houses in safe, economical lead? I never really got the "tinfoil wearing" epithet until now.
Well, there could be an entirely different practical reason for ending the ubiquitious WiFi dream...interference with older first-responder radio systems. Yet another priority never properly budgeted for.
I really wish you could visit this town to maybe see why this decision was made. Not that you will agree mind you but you may understand.It was my hometown and I say "was" because the town no londer exists.It was invaded by the uber-liberal pachuli brigade and fully destroyed.
Those people are stupid. Not dumb. You can fix dumb, but this is willful, forced and deliberate stupidity.
Back in the 70s, the Sebastopol Flea was a great place to buy rusty farm gadgets and deer skulls with half the skin still on. Now the whole town has gone arty and touristy. Not enough parking, too much high-priced, goat-cheesy goodness.
city council decided not to spend the money
#12-How right you are. I grew up off Cunningham Rd if you are familiar w/the area. For the most part the Seb Flea is full of pirated cd's and cheap, crappy toys and electronics. I've got to admit, some of that goat chese is damn good.
Most of the wireless signals we use are non-ionizing radiation, and therefore safe for us biological creatures. It causes some minor (and I do mean minor) heating over time, in most cases not enough to denature proteins or to cause genetic mutation.
WiFi transmits in the same spectrum that microwaves use, which has less of a penetration depth than AM, FM, or Television wavelengths.
SCIENCE
AAhh nothing better than a "SCIENCE" link. I laughed. Just at the link mind you, not the data.
I think the people that live there should start a petition to make the people that signed the original petition paint their houses in copper fleck wi-fi inhibiting paint. Just for fun.
Sorry that was horrible sentence structure.
Sorry that was horrible sentence structure.
Don't feel bad. I used 'delineated line' the other day.
@15: Most of the wireless signals we use are non-ionizing radiation
Unless you have an X-ray radio (hey, I want one of those, too!), you can say "All," rather than "Most."
Wow, I guess all the hospitals with wifi networks ought to rip 'em out. Thanks Sebastopol! I feel much safer now.
Sebastopol wasn't looking to spend any money on it. The local ISP (Sonic.net) was footing the bill for gee-whiz local cred.
Also, actual SCIENCE (link courtesy of badscience.net)
thanks agent 86, your answer "the non-ionizing radiation is less harmful than radio, tv, etc... part" was good...
as for the "science... it works, bitches" comic in your link, i'm torn between saying... "sometimes" or "the use of bitch in this case equates women with property, stupidity, lower animals or all three and doesn't help your argument appear any more convincing." i know basic feminism (and skepticism about the perfection of the scientific method) bores people, but it's still important to consider.
http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25582
layna berman discusses the effects of hypersensitivity to radiation from wireless routers, etc. and the phenomenon in this country of people getting extremely angry with people who're sensitive to radiation (especially since the technology isn't being taken away~people are asking for cautionary use of the technology).
she says, among other things, that the radiaton's the same as FM radiation, and obviously people are going to listen to the radio and surf the internet (she's on a radio show that's podcast) but that in general there's only so much radiation that our bodies can take, and with so MANY wireless routers, radios, etc. people can easily have too muich.
she says in sweden people take hypersensitivity to radiation seriously and the government even helps people find housing who're hypersensitive. it sounds like in general it's important to minimize exposure, though that's virtually impossible to do in the city.