[K12OSN] Slightly OT - Wireless in your school/building

CLIFFORD ILKAY clifford_ilkay at dinamis.com
Tue Mar 15 00:11:58 UTC 2011


On 03/10/2011 11:59 PM, Eric Brown wrote:
> I've got to speak out on this one.  I've only ever heard of the wi-fi
> illness when those affected have some sort of ax to grind with the
> supposed wi-fi offender.

I've heard of this "heard of" technique for establishing scientific 
validity. :)

> While working on my Master's degree, I did
> one particular study where I drove a grid pattern around our little town
> of 10,000 using a wireless sniffer.  I found 350 different mac addresses
> of wireless routers in our town, with just over 300 wide open, which was
> the subject of my paper.

You managed to find many sources of RF waves, which isn't remarkable. 
How can you conclude that those waves don't have adverse health effects, 
especially on children? Unless you have done research and published 
papers on the health effects of radio waves as Dr. Magda Havas 
<http://www.magdahavas.org/> <http://www.magdahavas.com/> has, your 
Master's degree doesn't really make you any more qualified than anyone I 
can stop and ask on the street.

> Fast forward a year or two, and there's a
> student who has been in the district since kindergarten suddenly develop
> this wi-fi sensitivity, particularly at school.  This was one child
> whose mother was quite litigious, having attempted to sue the school on
> multiple occasions, with the story usually being her kid misbehaved, got
> in trouble, acted out worse and worse, and then the school did something
> wrong, when in fact they never really did.

So based on a sample of one, you're concluding that this is all in the 
minds of litigious parents?

> She wanted to sue the school
> because her kid was getting sick from the wireless routers.  Turns out
> his wi-fi sensitivity didn't develop during his elementary years, even
> though his school had access points outside of two of his classrooms
> when he was there.  Mom claimed he felt fine at home, where casual
> sniffing while driving by the address showed 4 open access points just
> outside his front door.
>
> If this were a genuine illness, I would suspect it would only be found
> in those who live truly out in the wilderness, or we'd be suffering a
> pandemic of catastrophic proportions.  Wi-fi is EVERYWHERE now.  Every
> little small business that wants to encourage people hanging around has
> wi-fi.  They may not advertise it, but it's there.  Even if they don't,
> there's someone around who does.  I bet if you stand by any window in
> any classroom of any school that's not out in the country, you WILL find
> wi-fi signal.

That's true. However, if I recall correctly, signals degrade with the 
square of the distance. Many schools have large playgrounds, which act 
as a buffer for low-power signals like WiFi.

> And with the availability of technology these days,
> there's at least one kid in your school who knows how to turn their cell
> phone into a wi-fi hot spot, who will open it for their buddies during
> lunch and study hall.
>
> I would beware of the tolls though.  I'm sure there's someone with an ax
> to grind who can pretend to be sick.  Stick up a wired switch with
> wireless antenna glued on until you call them out.  Then deploy the
> wireless.
>
> I am all for the safety of all children, as well as the scientific method.

As am I, which is why I referenced Dr. Havas' work above.
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis
1419-3266 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

<http://dinamis.com>
+1 416-410-3326




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