Down The Drain

When this blog launched 10 months ago, its eventual direction was not entirely clear. As the name implies, and a growing number of people are learning, Smart Meters are not all they're cracked up to be. Accordingly, this has led to a mounting resistance to this illogical and harmful program, including a number of citizen scientists taking to the streets to measure the levels of EMFs coming from common, man-made emitters, like smart meters, cell towers, WiFi, cordless phones, and microwave ovens, to name a few.

While utilities around the world have received billions of dollars in handouts from government agencies to install brand new, untested technology on every home and business across the land, this plan is proving to be a giant waste of borrowed taxpayer money, a massive risk to public health, and a nightmarish public relations ordeal for the utilities who have been hoodwinked by these newfangled meter manufacturers.

Paralleling this herculean rollout of wireless gas, electric and water meters that spray our homes with radiation is a push by the Obama Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to deploy microwave weapons wireless broadband, also known as WiMax, Super WiFi, WiFi on Steroids, or 4G LTE. Agencies and legislators are quick to point out that the US lags far behind other countries in broadband connectivity, but completely fail to mention that countries, like South Korea, who have outpaced us, do so with wired connections–not with radio frequencies.

Time and time again, the FCC and Congress has rewritten the rules to encourage growth in the wireless sector, beginning in 1985 with their decision to let Industrial, Scientific and Medical bands (900 Mhz, 2.4 Ghz, and 5.8 Ghz) be used without license. This gave way to the proliferation of cordless phones, walkie talkies, baby monitors, and various communications and remote controlled gadgets that are now ubiquitous.

In 1996, the now infamous Telecommunications Act was passed, which essentially strips local control of zoning wireless infrastructure from communities and municipalities by eliminating any consideration of health effects caused by RF radiation. As long as a site measures a power density of less than 580 microwatts per centimeter squared, time averaged of course, then it's considered safe by the FCC. Any resistance by a town or city is consistently met with a lawsuit.

Within the past few years, more wireless-promoting decisions have been made, including the shot clock order and opening up additional frequencies for microwave backhaul (3.65 Ghz, 4.9 Ghz, 6 Ghz and 11 Ghz). The FCC is all but guaranteeing a future of microwave saturation by slipping in clauses like:

Eliminates Final Link Rule: We grant broadcasters greater access to microwave spectrum by eliminating the “final link” rule that prohibits broadcasters from using [fixed service] stations as the final radiofrequency (RF) link in the chain of distribution of program material to broadcast stations."

The most notable and shocking decision came almost exactly a year ago when the FCC granted LightSquared a waiver to use a slice of spectrum adjacent to the GPS spectrum for terrestrial operations. Specifically, LightSquared has plans to build a "wholesale" broadband network employing 40,000 base stations, to "supplement" its satellite, the largest ever put into orbit.

Today, things don't look so good for the embattled LightSquared. Their biggest partner, Sprint, is close to backing out, and the company has been devalued by almost 60%, taking a serious chunck out of Harbinger Capital's investors' pockets.

In some ways, this is not surprising. Anecdotal evidence suggests that people and companies who like wireless technology also tend to make bad decisions with money. Those choices to bet the farm on technology that is inherently susceptible to interference and failure not only endanger company bottom lines and shareholder portfolios, but the innocent living beings and biological systems caught in the electromagnetic crossfire. Like a gambler on a losing streak, the wireless industry assumes their luck is going to turn around with the next hand dealt.

Time will tell whether Americans continue to enable reckless electromagnetic polluters, or encourage safe, sane, and reliable services like cable, DSL, and fiber optics connected to wired home area networks.