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

[Eric Brown]

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.   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.  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.  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.  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.

Sorry for the rant,

Eric

On Mar 10, 2011 8:38 PM, "CLIFFORD ILKAY" <clifford_ilkay at dinamis.com>
wrote:


On 03/10/2011 11:06 AM, Joseph Bishay wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I hope everyone is well.
>
> A while bac...
Hello,

Be careful. WiFi has lots of health-related concerns surrounding it,
especially for children. One of the school boards in this area deployed it
and that started a firestorm of controversy with some parents claiming their
children were becoming ill from the WiFi. The Superintendent of that school
board handled it very badly. The parents whose children were afflicted were
asking for a 90 day moratorium to see if the symptoms of their children
abated. Instead of doing that, which I think would have been an inexpensive
and non-confrontational way of dealing with the issue, it became a war of
experts with the school board trotting out their experts who claimed WiFi
was safe and the parents trotting out their own experts who claimed that
WiFi caused all sorts of problems. Google for "simcoe school board wifi".
Here is one article: <
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/08/16/wifi-students.html>.

If I were in your shoes, I would consult parents so that I would act with
their support and I'd be frank about presenting both sides of the issue.
It's best to have these discussions before you spend money on technology
that you might have to mothball later due to health concerns. I've read
enough about the issue that I think there is something going on and would be
inclined to err on the side of caution.
-- 
Regards,

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

<http://dinamis.com>
 <%2B1%20416-410-3326> <%2B1%20416-410-3326>+1 416-410-3326



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