WiFi scares set to mushroom

The scares over the use of Wi-Fi technology keep rumbling on, and it's starting to get concerning.

Events kicked off in March when controversial medical professional George Carlo was welcomed into Parliament by Ian Gibson MP to call for wireless networks - GSM, 3G and Wi-Fi - to be restricted as much as possible. Carlo claimed there were significant health risks which would be incurred by coming within reach of such radio waves.

Round two kicked off when the BBC relayed the results of tests in its Panorama programme last Monday which showed that the strength of Wi-Fi signals are much stronger than those of mobile phone basestations.

But unfortunately round two is continuing. Take this article, which quotes council leaders as saying they may be unable to roll out wireless LANs because of the concerns of users.

Now I'm all up for listening to how users want to use technology, but that can really only happen when arguments are based on solid facts.

Panorama's facts were rather ropey. The gist of the argument was that if you monitor the strength of a radio wave next to a Wi-Fi-enabled notebook, it is stronger than the strength of the radio wave being transmitted from a distant mobile basestation.

Gee, those are laws of physics.

Children put mobile phones to their skulls. Children do not, by and large, put Wi-Fi enabled notebooks to their skulls, and so really should have nothing to worry about.

However, the debate has started and it looks set to mushroom. As the council leaders said, a report from a respected organisation - perhaps the Department of Health - is required to settle a few nerves.

Unfortunately, we're not likely to get that for a while, if at all.

There is nothing more dangerous than the public reacting to something which scares them and is unproven.

Apart from needlessly turning your back on proven technology which can drive productivity through your business.