How Bad Can Wi-fi Be?

An anonymous reader writes "Sunday night in the UK, the BBC broadcast an alarmist Panorama news programme that suggested wireless networking might be damaging our health. Their evidence? Well, they admitted there wasn't any, but they made liberal use of the word 'radiation', along with scary graphics of pulsating wifi base stations. They rounded-up a handful of worried scientists, but ignored the majority of those who believe wifi is perfectly harmless. Some quotes from the BBC News website companion piece: 'The radiation Wi-Fi emits is similar to that from mobile phone masts ... children's skulls are thinner and still forming and tests have shown they absorb more radiation than adults'. What's the science here? Can skulls really 'absorb' EM radiation? The wifi signal is in the same part of the EM spectrum as cellphones but it's not 'similar' to mobile phone masts, is it? Isn't a phone mast several hundred/thousand times stronger? Wasn't safety considered when they drew up the 802.11 specs?"

Eek!

[mibalzonya]

I suggest aluminum foil hats.

so...

[cosmocain]

'The radiation Wi-Fi emits is similar to that from mobile phone masts ... children's skulls are thinner and still forming and tests have shown they absorb more radiation than adults'.

it absorbs? wowy! so i gotta keep children away to avoid serious wifi-connection-troubles. damned, those little buggers seem to interfere with almost anything!

So...

[Chysn]

So... the news is that there's alarmism?

Thanks. I'll be sure to watch out for it.

Won't someone think of the children?

[kannibal_klown]

Gah! Won't someone think of the children!?

If we use 802.11, the terrorists win.

I'm sure it's worth study, and I personally think WiFi is used too much. I'm not saying we shouldn't use it a lot, but I know some homes and businesses that might just be better off with some CAT cables. I mean, if all of your computers in your 1 bed apartment are desktops, why go WiFi?

"Can skulls really 'absorb' EM radiation?"

[2008]

Of course they can. Everything does. Notice how when you put your head near a source of radiant heat it feels warm?

"Do not look into laser with remaining eye" is also appropriate here...

Re:Sounds familiar

[cosmocain]

hell, global warming. isn't that that piece of crap those european scientists promote just to anger and disgruntle the whole hummer-driving-air-conditioning-the-whole-place-am erican-folks? yeah, that's FUD at it's best. actually it's all about selling more european, pseudo-eco-friendly products in the states, to ruin the american markets and thus stopping the war against terrorism by an act of countercultural inner corrosion.

Trade one for the other

[Applekid]

So if WiFi can give you cancer, what can a bunch of loose network cables strewn on the floor give you?

It's not the flight I'm afraid of, it's the notebook's landing that's the dealbreaker.

Re:Sounds familiar

[mattpalmer1086]

Damn that global conspiracy of nearly 100% of the world's climate scientists! Even the politicians are finally getting in on it, after decades of dedicated FUD spreading by those evil scientists. They must be laughing, laughing I say, all the way to the... err...

 

Re:Won't somebody please...

[mario_grgic]

give her cat cancer

Is that when there's a cat growing out of her chest cancer?

To quote Lionel Hutz

[DaveCar]

From TFS: Their evidence? Well, they admitted there wasn't any

Well, Your Honor, we've plenty of hearsay and conjecture. Those are kinds of evidence.

Re:WiFi is microwaves

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG! Now I got it! So THAT IS the real reason of global warming! We filled this planet (75% of water) with ovens, cordless phones, cellular phones, WiFi and we have made it a huge microwave oven! No wonder why there is "global warming".

Re:What crap.

[cerberusss]

their children are outside getting burnt without sunscreen.

You think that's bad? The other day, I saw a kid browsing Slashdot in the library.

*shivers*

OMG SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHIIILDREN

Re:Sounds familiar

[asliarun]

Consequently, all packets transmitted through WiFi will now need to have the text, "WiFi Kills".

I get headaches!

[cerberusss]

I've got two WiFi base stations. The minute I enter my house, I get a headache!

Strange, isn't it?

What's even stranger is that it only started when my girlfriend moved in with me.

Re:Eek!

[Shinmizu]

That's what the man wants you to think.

Re:Eek!

[R2.0]

Wow - that explains so much. I have been plagued for years with an eerie knowledge of when my TV is on, even with no signal. It manifests itself as a high pitched noise that only I can hear, and I can tell with 100% accuracy when the TV is on or off.

I never thought of it as a disability, though - I just thought it was an older model and the electronics were giving off a hum, and I just haven't lost my high frequency hearing yet. But now that I know there are others like me, we can form a support group and get recognition for our disability - maybe even get Medicaid compensation.

I'm so happy now that I know I am not alone.

Re:WiFi is microwaves

[Clandestine_Blaze]

I stand corrected. I found out that my knowledge of the topic was totally wrong

You must be new here. ;)

Kill bit

[PIPBoy3000]

They got it all wrong. The problem isn't with WiFi, the problem is when the signal carries the kill bit [securescout.com], passing through your body and causing extreme cellular damage. That's why most of the time the studies show up nothing.

Re:What crap.

[tpholland]

All day we're around Microwaves, XRays, High voltage lines, lights, televisions and Radio signals.

Please stop, it's too horrible! The worst of it all is that my PC is as we speak radiating heat.

That's the same kind of radiation that is used in conventional ovens!

It can cook stuff to death!

Re:WiFi is microwaves

[hardburn]

WiFi transmitters are less than a watt. Microwave ovens are often 600 watts or more. Despite this, burritos often come out half-frozen after a minute of being bombarded with that much power.

Re:What's the Science in This?

[Tofystedeth]

It's that sort of programming, and if they convince laypeople that more money needs to be spent on researching this than is really necessary it only does damage.

No amount of funding is too much for the issue of finding black holes. I still have 17 socks and a car key unaccounted for.

Re:Won't somebody please...

[Azathfeld]

Friggin' fake news. I'm going to go strap a thousand wireless routers to their offices so that they all die of fake cancer.

Re:Sounds familiar

[Basehart]

Expect the USA to counter with "Freedom Packets"

Re:What crap.

[VWJedi]

Yes, but radio waves are not an emerging technology. After about 120 years of study, I think we can safely say that radio waves are the best-understood part of the EM spectrum, in terms of the physics of their interactions.

After about 200,000 years of study, I think we can safely say that visible light waves are the best-understood part of the EM spectrum, in terms of the physics of their interactions.

But I'm sure radio waves come in second!

Re:What crap.

[Anonymous Coward]

Please stop, it's too horrible! The worst of it all is that my PC is as we speak radiating heat.

OMGOMG so are you!

You might even be emitting more of it than your 'puter.

Stop it at once! Algor mortis, activate!

Re:What crap.

[Bomarrow1]

OMFG!!!eleven!
I'm a child, I'm reading slashdot. I have one WiFi access point less than a foot from my head and another 10 meters away. I can feel it burning. Argh the pain. In fact just to make sure that I don't mutate (lots of fun programs on that as well) and polute the gene pool I'm gonna electrocute myself now.

But in all seriousness its never harmed me...