The devil is in de tail
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Bloke sued for not switching off his WiFi
A BLOKE in Santa Fe, New Mexico has been sued by his neighbour for refusing to turn off his WiFi and mobile phone.
Arthur Firstenberg claims he was made homeless by his heartless neighbour who refused to switch off to help him, since he believes that the radio waves make him sick.
Firstenberg claims that he's been forced to live in his car because of his neighbour's use of WiFi. He said that he can't stay in a hotel, because hotels and motels all have WiFi connections, which he claims trigger a severe illness.
You might be surprised to hear that this case is being dealt with seriously in the US, where it has been assigned to District Court Judge Daniel Sanchez.
So far it has not been proven that WiFi has any impact on human health, but there is a lot of evidence that people suffering from "electromagnetic sensitivity" are simply suffering from psychosomatic disorders.
It has been suggested that rather than bothering people with court actions demanding that others stop living a normal life and pay attention to their neuroses, they might like to try therapy or medication instead.
Sheesh, what is wrong with putting on a tin foil hat like the Luddites of my day used to wear?
The court papers say that if Firstenberg cannot obtain preliminary relief, he will be forced to continue to sleep in his car, enduring winter cold and discomfort, until this case can be heard.
So it sounds like justice might be served after all. µ
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Having worked in the telecoms industry for quite some time and been involved in projects where we have erected base stations over hill tops all over the UK I'd like to give my view on this.
She wants him to turn off his mobile phone. The radio waves emitted by the base stations of the cellular network is at least a thousand times greater. Unless she is holding his mobile phone against her head her local base station should be the first thing she wants to get shutdown.
Now as a practical individual she is now probably listing her mobile telecoms operators in order to ask each of them to cease and desist. However she shouldn't forget that emergency services, maritime, and military networks will need to be tackled too.
It has already been suggested that the radio (as in wireless audio) transmission companies will need to shut up shop too for the good of her mental or physical health (depending on your perspective).
I would like to offer my consultancy services at my usual rate with a sign on fee of 50000GBP to cover the initial consultation. When I come over I'd appreciate it if you could book me into a hotel with free wifi for research purposes.
Here are some facts.
1. The person being sued is a woman --- a French Ex-Pat.
2. She is self-employed in an INTERNET business.
3. According to the local daily, he contacted the owner and got the rental of the house for her. He knows her because she cooked for him in the past. http://www.sfnewmexican.com
4. According to the local weekly http://www.sfreporter.com she has offered her house in in French countryside.
5. Both houses are made out of adobe which are effective in blocking all sorts of signals.
6. The case was filed in State Court not in Federal Court where it belongs.
Yes, I do live on one of the two streets mentioned in the local articles --- so I am a neighbor but I don't have wi-fi.
Litigious nutcase = Citizen of the USA... they are one and the same! only in USA
How will he know? Change the name, tell him it's off, and blame someone else. Problem solved.
By the way, he'd get a lot further if he tried to sue the FCC and make the case there, rather than irritating his neighbor. I'd imagine he's unable to work, either, since most places now have wireless networks or one nearby, nor can he enter a city of any size. That's not the neighbor's fault.
If it would have been my neighbor, that's what I would have advised him to do in the first place - contact the FCC. I would have explained that WiFi tech shows up in more devices these days than mere phones and routers, and that he would need to contact the FCC to figure out how far away from civilization he needs to go to be 'safe'.
Then I would have promptly slammed the door in his face.
How does the crazy person know that the other guy hasn't turned off his wi-fi? He would need something wi-fi enabled himself to check...
COol story, bro
Man in US sues neighbour for owning green car.
"I'm allergic to green, it makes me feel funny" said Mr Randy Wankerstein of Somewheresville CA
He could just defeat the door interlock of his microwave oven, and give the neighbour a real power beam to play with (could illuminate loose fluorescent tubes, cook eggs, all kinds of fun!). Then switch it off, and go back to normal WiFi -- bet there would be no more complaints.
Welcome to the US. Where the stupid idiots are paraded as victims on TV and decent folk are considered bizarre. It's going down hill fast here folks, could someone in the UK send some help? Please!
I just hope it sterilized this "electrosensitive" moron, so we don't have to deal with his like in the next generation. Bad enough there are already lots of looneys wasting time in the judicial system. We don't need more like him, let alone precedents. If you don't want to live with modern civilization, kindly evict yourself.
where the cell phone company only had the antennas up.. no power, no transmitting equipment yet setup for months...
and the guys started to "feel sick"...
I was going to say a lot but after reading everyone else comments, you have said it all.
I guess if he is serious about it he could build a high fence made of mesh around his property, I wouldn't worry to much about a complete cage since he seems to be happy in his car, but if he is willing why not to the top too and he can have his Faraday cage double as an aviary. I hope he like birds.
By the way, do microwave ovens and the CRT TV cause him in problems, because they are much more powerful than the humble wifi.
While I don't doubt the existence of electromagnetic sensitivity, for those who do keep in mind the human body is basicly one big walking radio antenna, I do find it laughable anyone is taking this guy seriously. I mean for EMF to effect even sensitives you generally have to be in a field atleast 10 times the norm before you start getting the mildest of reactions. It's down right hilarious the guy is claiming that this dude not turning off his cell phone would help cause even if he did turn it off that wouldn't stop the tower from transmitting the signal over the area and as for the Wi-fi given the minimum 2 walls between him, atleast when he's in his house, and the transmitter plus probably around 10-20 feet of yard odds are the amount of EMF he's feeling from that transmitter is about the same as standing under a 60 watt lightbulb.
Someone should mention to this Firstenberg induhvidual that cars can have quite a few radio transmitters. Most likely he's sleeping right next to RF remote pressure sensors in his tires.
And who in his position could ignore the RF pulses emitted by the ignition system or the magnetic field from the heated seats...
The worlds smallest electric violin is playing, just for him.
What about radio stations? Satellite TV? Cosmic microwave background?
A car can potentially act as a "Faraday cage" which can "blocks out external static electric fields" (Wiki).
Not saying it isn't totally nuts though.
I live in Albuquerque, NM and was reading this story over the weekend. Not only is he suing the neighbor but he's asking the city to shut off all wireless at public buildings (library, city hall, etc). It sounds like he is the one that needs to moved to the middle of the desert.
Why doesn't he just build a portable faraday cage around himself or in a room of his house. I bet you could put the guy in one out in the middle of no where and tell him there is wifi and cell tower right next door and his symptoms would still be there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage
Well, based on US type of justice, if this bloke wins this suit, that means that every other WiFi bothered neighbors will have the same right, so there will be a lot of WiFi disconnetions and wifi routers sales will drop.
That's just silly, ever heard about the placebo effect? If you believe the radiation will harm you, you body will believe it too.
.
And he might find some respite ;-)
It all depends on the facts of the case.
Maybe the unnamed neighbour works at Los Alamos and has adapted a 50 kW X-band radar for a wifi connection to his home network while hiking in the mountains, and maybe he also enjoys evaporating Mr. Firstenberg's tea through the walls when he's home.
Or maybe Mr. Firstenberg is a litigious nutcase.
So many possibilities.
Just give him a bucket of AntiWiFi paint; created with Al particles that absorb the WiFi radiation.
really believes that RFI is effecting him then why doesn't he go out and by a roll of copper mesh. A little home decorating and he can convert his bedroom into a Faraday cage.
The glass windows of his car will let WiFi and cell phone signals into it's interior so chances are that it's psychosomatic anyway.
Simply *tell* the car-sleeping neighbor that you'll gladly switch off your wifi and phone between the hours of 8pm and 8 am.
Let's see if he can tell...
Following on from that, he could try turning it on but disabling SSID broadcasting so that his neighbour couldn't tell if it was on or off.
The problem here is whether or not neighbours should have to take such draconian measures just because someone in another house has a health issue.
just switch off the WiFi on the quiet and see if this bloke is still suffering, no and he may have a point - yes and the case is closed.
Maybe this is just too simple...
I assume that the defendant's equipment is all manufactured to the rules of the FCC that we see in the manual of every electronic device sold in the U.S. Consequently he is following the rules and is entitled to enjoy his kit peacefully.
(Then again, his music centre may be FCC approved but they probably don't get involved if he turns it up too loud and disturbs the guy next door.)
I think that a recent report that mobile phone radiation is actually good for you, probably is an ultimately spurious artifact of good scientific work diligently testing the argument that it is bad for you - possibly done with the "coincidental result" filter tuned way too low.
Had the cruel neighbour used the almigthy Jeeeeezuz Phone, none would have happened!
I guess the court should consider assigning a Jesus Phone to the stone-hearted neighbour.... so the poor guy should no longer sleep in his car PLUS he would get the blessing of St. SJ of Cupertino...
See this MIT study for why the tin-foil hats actually help the government spy on you ...
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/