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?

Now, 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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