A topic I’ve been interested in for a while now is the stampede mentality some people exhibit in regards to subjects framed as frightening. This includes handgun ownership, terrorism, hormones in food, genetically-engineered food, SARS, and a number of other supposed menaces to your personal safety that account for a very small number of actual problems. One that has come up recently at work has been the adverse effects of WiFi signals. A small but highly-motivated culture of electrosensitives and the chronically-afraid has sprung up around the radio frequencies emitted by cellphones and cellphone towers. Many have decided to associate the years-old paranoia about cellphones to wireless networking as well.

My knee-jerk reaction is that such concerns are overblown, a kind of niche-hysteria that just doesn’t make sense. WiFi access points use very little power; 100 milliwatts is typical, KSRO radio broadcasts at 5,000 watts and is just one of dozens of local radio stations. Shouldn’t we have been seeing health effects from generations of radio broadcasts irradiating us day and night without pause? So I did a little reading.

Looks like one of those great convergences where a handful of scientific studies have fallen into the hands of some highly-vocal people with a vested interest in hyping fear of this technology and a receptive media that is willing to fill (ironically enough) broadcast airtime on hyping it further.

The WiFi health scare has now found fertile soil in Sebastopol, California, where fourteen concerned residents converged on the city council to demand that a community wireless network project be shelved. This happened to be a project my employer was set to implement, more for gee-whiz factor than any real prospect of making money off it, hence my interest in the matter. Sebastopol has an interesting reputation for its residents’ collective insistence that it has an independent streak, often manifesting itself in odd ways including the overuse of political bumper stickers.

Now, I’ll concede that most of the folks that have signed onto the “new things are bad” approach to things are sincere in their intentions. Some honestly believe themselves to be affected by radio signals. Some have concerns about cancer that are amplified by family backgrounds and specific personal situations. Some are genuinely concerned about the well-being of children that are being forced to grow up in the future instead of the past. The problem here is that they’re getting played, manipulated, bamboozled, conned. There’s money to be made in RF-screening paint, curtains, gee-gaws, and even underwear. But who’d buy such things if they weren’t afraid of RF? If you’re somebody that follows links, yes, that’s over $459 for a gallon of paint.

Declaration of victory against WiFi
Observations by the guy trying to give a town free WiFi
Some British guy that’s skeptical on the matter

A proper study on the matter (PDF)