Re: "Nelson council backs Shaw's free Wi-Fi"
Thump.
That’s the sound of Nelson city council falling off the back of a turnip truck after voting in favour of Shaw’s offer of free Wi-Fi in public places.
But it’s free! Valued at $100,000 and it’s being offered to Nelson out of the goodness of their little corporate hearts.
Thump.
When was the last time you accepted an absolutely free gift? How did it work out for you? Okay, stop laughing. Don’t even schoolchildren know better than to accept candy from strangers? And don’t Nelson citizens have a right to know what is really at play here and what they are really getting themselves into? Otherwise the city looks like it just fell off the back of a turnip truck.
Thump.
But it’s safe! The city has a document from Health Canada that says so.
Thump.
Would that be the same Health Canada who thought that asbestos was a grand idea only to be overturned by the World Health Organization? The same Health Canada who first said that tobacco was dandy and DDT like candy only to be sheepishly corrected by the WHO over and over? The same Health Canada who now love Wi-Fi in spite of the fact that the WHO classified Wi-Fi as a carcinogen in 2011 alongside DDT and leaded gas? Say what?
We don’t spread DDT on our playfields, do we? Not unless it’s given free by a corporation? Yet council wants to spread Wi-Fi in all public places. Oh, but they have a document.
Thump.
It matters not that the Canadian Medical Association, our doctors in other words, chastised Health Canada this year saying that it’s “a disaster to public health.” One scientist said that given the overwhelming evidence that wireless radiation is harmful, Health Canada staff are either “unwilling or not competent to make evaluation of the current literature.” The CMA went on to reveal that James McNamee, who wrote Health Canada’s safety code, has also co-authored academic papers with scientists who openly accept payments from the wireless industry.
Thump.
At a time when the emerging trend is for businesses and cities to market themselves as Wi-Fi Free Zones, council goes all in?
Thump.
We better hope that council gets wise to the ways of the world, otherwise we will all be falling off the back of the turnip truck together.
Thump.
Gerry Moore, Nelson