When cafés place signs that boast "Free Wi-Fi" in their windows, they usually intend to lure patrons in—not drive them away. But in response to Sonic.net's offer to provide free Wi-Fi to the small town of Sebastopol, California, its residents whipped out their tinfoil hats and rejected the offer due to "potential risks to the health of our community" (although they thanked Sonic for the "very nice gesture").
Sebastopol's city council had signed a contract with Sonic in November, but rescinded its resolution due to pleas from self-proclaimed "electromagnetically hypersensitive" (EHS) citizens, who experienced headaches and rashes in response to electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), and an online petition with roughly 500 signatures. Can the little EMF coming from Wi-Fi be bad for our health? Could blogging from coffee shops become as taboo—and illegal—as smoking in bars? Not likely. Sonic CEO Dane Jasper lists a number of independent studies on EHS on ...
