Wi-Fi phobes hijack disability legislation

We're disabled, really, we are!

Posted in Financial News, 7th November 2008 15:57 GMT

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The city of Santa Fe is being taken to task over a plan to deploy a Wi-Fi network on the ground they're unfairly discriminating against people who are allergic to electromagnetic waves.

The complaint is spearheaded by Arthur Firstenberg, and the Cellular Phone Task Force*, as reported by KOB-TV, and is based on the premise that putting up Wi-Fi equipment unfairly discriminates in breach of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Firstenberg would like to see Wi-Fi banned - in all public buildings, at least.

In fact Firstenberg would like to see a lot more than that, as outlined in his article on the subject entitled Killing Fields. He'd like government funding to pay for more attorneys and cover the cost of buying land for EMF-free sanctuaries.

City Councillor Ron Trujillo reckons the areas under contention are already awash with Wi-Fi signals, so any claim that the city's deployment will alter things is spurious:

"It's not 1692, it's 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it's not going away," Trujillo said. Clearly he's not a follower of General Ludd. ®

*No link to the group's web site, as it doesn't appear to have one. But then this, given Firstenberg's aversion to all things electric, should be obvious really.

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