By Jo Best, 24 February 2006 16:25
NEWS
A Canadian university has announced it is limiting wi-fi on campus due to "health and security" fears.
The president of Lakehead University, Fred Gilbert, recently took the decision to use wired internet connections rather than wi-fi as he believes health risks associated with the technology are yet to be entirely disproved.
Gilbert reportedly said while he remains president of the university, the college will not adopt wi-fi - citing the existence of studies which have shown the electromagnetic forces used in wi-fi may be carcinogenic in animals.
However, the university denied its students will suffer as a result of the lack of wi-fi. "There are many internet café locations, and formal and informal settings on campus, with hardwired hook-ups where students can use university computers and enjoy specialised software and secure communications," it said in a statement.
The university, in Ontario, will continue to look into the potential of wi-fi, according to the statement. "The university will continue to monitor research on wireless technology on an ongoing basis and, at an appropriate time, re-evaluate the university's current position on this issue," it said.
The potential risks of the wireless technology were also an issue for the City of London's rollout of wi-fi across the Square Mile.
Peter Bennett, deputy city surveyor, told silicon.com the City had evaluated the risks but did not believe them to be significant. "The health issue and the potential risks were considered. No one can be sanguine when creating wireless networks but we were satisfied there is far less risk in the network we are creating than in many existing radio networks operating in the City."
Comments
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1. dukein
That's idiotic at best. Why not say he doesn't see the expense as justified ?
2. anonymous
Then they also need to remove all hydro wires from campus as well, since the theory that high voltage lines are carcinogenic has also yet to be disproven.
3. Asad Quraishi
Being a Canadian I am pretty embarrassed hearing that a Canadian University is doing this. It's ridiculous to think that eliminating Wi-Fi could actually make a difference if Electromagnetic radiation causes cancer. We are bathed in the stuff constantly - cell phone, radio, TV towers, overhead hi-tension power lines and on and on and on. Eliminating Wi-Fi is a demonstration of ignorance and not prudence. And our universities are supposed to be centres of learning...groan!
4. Bobby Resigleano
As a former/part-time student of LU, I am very put back to think that the current president of the university is doing students/staff/administration a health favour by limiting and/or banning wireless networking at the school.
Any forward looking individual will know that wireless networking is only going to grow beyond the control of localized hotspots with the use of 802.11n and further builds.
I suspect there is more going on here than health concerns. If this genuinely is the case, the president should stop the sell of alcohol at the onsite campus pub, block all use of cell phones, remove microwaves from all eating areas, and replace all CRT monitors.
This surely is a step backwards in a institution that thrives on the movement of information.
5. Douglas Schulek-Miller
This is very embarrassing.... I have lived and worked over most of the Western world, but currently live in Canada. Maybe it is my scientific background that led me to buy a Gauss meter years ago. However, when we set up our wireless network in our house, I used the meter to measure ambient radiation in the area near the antenna. There is just no significant radiation within the bandwidth metrics of the meter, period.
If you want to measure rradiation, put the meter in front of a television! That sends the needle off the screen!
So, obviously, the solution for the school is to bring back wireless and eliminate television IF they really want to reduce radiation in their ambient environment.
Of course, if that isn't the issue, then...
6. Angus
Well let that be a lesson to you all, perhaps if countries like America and Canada were not so trigger happy to sue organisations and each other; technology could move forward, but the greed of some individuals and the legal rhetoric from the snake like lawyers are holding back any embrace of Technology.
The Dean most likely fears an Erin Brockovich turning up in 10 years time claiming that 2000+ IT students are bald and pale and are socially stunted due to WiFi
7. Be careful what you wish for.
Angus, If Yanks are so "trigger happy to sue" over technology 'issues', then why are North Americans so so so far ahead of Europe and the RoW in developing and adopting new technology? (Ed note. Mobile, broadband adoption, consumer tech... are you sure? Parts of Europe, Korea and Japan may all take issue with that statement.)
Time to think again. I just wish the UK was more open to developing and adopting new technology that truely makes life more rewarding and work easier (it's just a shame that our gov't has made a real 'pigs ear' out of so many IT projects!!!)