Wi-Fi causes child cancer? (and fair-y tale use)
Won’t somebody think of the children? It’s Monday’s IT Blogwatch: in which Aunty Beeb scares us all over Wi-Fi "radiation". Not to mention a Disney parody explanation of copyright law and fair use…
BBC TV’s Panorama series speaks of, "a Wi-Fi revolution…":
…with offices, homes and classrooms going wireless – but there is concern the technology could carry health risks. The Government insists Wi-Fi is safe, but a Panorama investigation shows that radio frequency radiation levels in some schools are up to three times the level found in the main beam of intensity from mobile phone masts. There have been no studies on the health effects of Wi-Fi equipment, but thousands on mobile phones and masts.
The radiation Wi-Fi emits is similar to that from mobile phone masts. It is an unavoidable by-product of going wireless … In 2000, Sir William Stewart … headed the government’s inquiry into the safety of mobile phone masts and health. He felt the scientific research was sufficient to apply a precautionary approach when siting masts near schools … But what about Wi-Fi? The technology is similar to mobile phone masts and in use in 70 per cent of secondary schools and 50 per cent of primary schools.
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Readings … showed the … signal strength to be three times higher in the school classroom using Wi-Fi than [that of] a mobile phone mast. The findings are particularly significant because children’s skulls are thinner and still forming and tests have shown they absorb more radiation than adults.
Read more at rcbarnett