September 12-13 Safe Tech International News and Notes
September 12-13 Safe Tech International News and Notes
Russian Committee re WHO, Digital Dilemma Documentary, Nicola Tesla, Airpods lawsuit, Olle,
FEATURED
Russian National Committee for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Chairman attacks WHO-commissioned review that claims no cellphone-cancer link A group of little-known scientists has claimed responsibility for all cases of cancer associated with exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. These scientists claim that possible, probable, and proven cancer from exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields does not exist and never can exist. Thus, responsibility for misleading consumers, industry, and healthcare systems lies with several specific authors. They made this conclusion based on an analysis of other people's articles, selected using a methodology not developed by them, using analysis criteria that they also did not develop. These scientists themselves are not known for their affiliation with scientific schools studying the biomedical effects of electromagnetism, their fundamental work in the field of biological effects of electromagnetic fields and hygiene is unknown. For an unknown reason, the scientists speak on behalf of the World Health Organization, whose employees remain silent and, in principle, do not have the authority (and competence) to make such categorical conclusions. As is well known, science has no categorical judgments, even geometry from the obvious Euclidean has become non-Euclidean, the theory of relativity has become relative. We do not discover "laws of nature", but only generalize what is known. The physical nature of the electromagnetic field has been and remains a subject of discussion, as well as human nature and the role of natural electromagnetism and electricity in it.
The discussion of the carcinogenic potential of radio frequencies has become one of the topics of the international electromagnetic project after 1996, and we have repeatedly discussed this issue with the participants of the WHO project. I have been directly involved in discussions since 1997. Every specialist involved in experimental work using several species of animals, with volunteers, with hygiene and epidemiology understands how dangerous it is to make a categorical judgment "this exists" or "this does not exist". We all need to be very careful when meeting the statements of such authors who "know the answer" in such a complex area for research as the bioeffects of the electromagnetic field.
Dr. Oleg A. Grigoriev Dr. Sc. (radiobiology), Ph.D.(radiobiology & hygiene of non-ionizing radiation) Chairman, Russian National Committee for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Member of the Board, Scientific Council for Radiobiology, Russian Academy of Sciences Chairman, Non-Ionizing Radiation Section, Russian National Radiobiological Society Chief Expert of the State Commission on Sanitary Rules (retired) Member of the IAC WHO EMF Int Project - now WHO Non-ionazing Project (since 2004), Member of the Advisory Group to Recommend Priorities for the IARC Monographs during 2020–2024 -COURTESY JOEL M Related post: Biased WHO-commissioned review claims no cancer link to cellphone use.
FEATURED:
Digital Dilemma: A Groundbreaking Documentary & The Wireless Paradigm Shift to Follow A pioneering study reveals the true cost of living in an EMF-saturated world and how healthy LEDs could protect us from this invisible storm. In this eye-opening premiere interview, I speak with Swiss activist Christian Oesch and German filmmaker Klaus Scheidsteger to discuss their groundbreaking documentary "Digital Dilemma." The film uncovers the invisible dangers of our increasingly wireless world and some shocking truths about electromagnetic radiation exposure. One of the most startling revelations comes from the ATHEM3 study, which assessed oxidative stress and genetic instability from mobile radio frequency exposure.
The article about the interview discusses heart rate variability as a marker of harm, and includes links to the study ATHEM3 Study: Evaluation of Oxidative Stress and Genetic Instability (Mobile Communications) 11 June 2024 |HERE Information A mobile phone study conducted in Franconia, near Würzburg, is causing a lot of excitement after its publication on May 31, 2024 in a renowned scientific journal. The study was about scientifically proving whether residents who live in the immediate vicinity of a mobile phone transmitter are exposed to a higher health risk than those who live at some distance from the transmitter. A novelty in this study, entitled "Athermal Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields on the Autonomic Nervous System and Gene Integrity" (ATHEM3), was the use of specially collected blood samples from all subjects. Seven hours after they were taken, the samples were at the renowned institute of Professor Igor Belyaev at the Cancer Research Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, in Bratislava.
The digital dilemma - Documentary on youtube is HERE. 1 1/2 hours. COURTESY ARTHUR O.
Note/Disclaimer: I appreciate Reinette but in this talk she links airpods to inevitable glioblastomas in children, and I feel that we need to be very cautious about unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims about harm. I personally have made errors when speaking but I find some speakers are more measured in their commentary than others. I also have concerns about comparing the guidelines for nuclear (ionizing) and 5G exposures (non-ionizing) but this is above my paygrade.
The discussion of the study of heart rate variability, and the German lawsuit based on sleep disturbance, however, is worth a listen.
FEATURED
THE POWER COUPLE Nikola Tesla's hidden history Titans of Electrical History: Nikola Tesla - Part 1 On this episode, we discuss: How Tesla became an inventor, Tesla’s relationship with Mark Twain, The DeathRay & Tesla’s views on eugenics, How John Trump and the US Government confiscated Tesla documents HERE
NEWS AND NOTES
AI: Meta fed its AI on almost everything you’ve posted publicly since 2007 Unless you’re in the EU, there’s no ability to opt out of AI training settings that keep Facebook or Instagram posts public. THE VERGE
AI: The Geniuses in Nevada’s Government Are Letting a Half-Baked AI Decide Whether People Should Get Unemployment Benefits And they gave taxpayers dollars to Google to build it. FUTURISM
AI: POLITICO WITH AUTHOR GARY MARCUS (TAMING SILICON VALLEY, MIT PRESS) : Most otherwise informed citizens are not really following what's going on with AI, don't really have a clear idea of what the current risks are, or the future risks, or how they're being played by Silicon Valley or why the government is falling short. But we know that AI rips off artists and writers, we know that it's bad for the environment, we know that it's racist, we know it's being used for misinformation. Every time you use it, you are contributing to this AI-industrial complex, and maybe people should say, “I won't use this stuff until they get their house in order and address these problems.” POLITICO
AIRPODS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: JULY 2024 UPDATE: What’s the Problem?The Apple AirPods Lawsuit was filed in May 2022 in Federal Court in San Jose, California, by Plaintiffs Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes on behalf of their son, known in court documents as “B.G.”, who was 12 years old at the time the incident occurred. According to the lawsuit, B.G. was watching Netflix on his iPhone at a low volume while wearing an AirPod connected to the phone in his right ear when an Amber Alert abruptly produced an “ear shattering” sound level that ruptured B.G.’s eardrum and damaged his inner ear. As a result, the child has permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, suffers from dizziness and will need to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life, the complaint states. The suit, which also names Luxshare-IDT Inc., which imports the AirPods for Apple, and Luxshare Precision Industry Co. Ltd., which manufactures them, alleges that Apple and Luxshare were aware that its AirPods played extremely loud alerts from online complaints going back to 2019 from users who noted that AirPods did not adjust the alert volume to match that of the media they were playing. Gordoa and Reyes further claim that AirPods are defective because they play alerts at dangerous volume, regardless of the volume set by the user. The complaint includes claims for negligence, strict liability design defect, manufacturing defect and failure to warn, gross negligence, breach of implied warranty, fraud by non-disclosure, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs also seek damages for B.G.’s pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish and future medical expenses, as well as punitive damages. The lawsuit is: Gordoa v. Apple Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 3:22-cv-02900. []
Apple AirPod Max Lawsuit In addition to being sued over ear damage allegedly caused by AirPods earphones, Apple is also the target of a class action lawsuit in California alleging that a defect causes condensation to accumulate inside the AirPods Max’s ear cups, often after only a few hours of normal use. In addition to affecting the overall experience and value of the AirPods Max, the defect also causes some consumers to experience performance problems such as: Degraded or no sound in one or both of the ear cups, Failure to detect the user’s ear, Failure of the active noise cancellation function, Battery charging issues. Despite multiple complaints by AirPods Max owners, Apple has not publicly acknowledged the defect or attempted to fix it, according to the class action. Instead, when AirPods Max owners request – within the one-year warranty period – that Apple remedy and address the defect and resultant damage at no expense, the company refuses to do so. AirPods Hearing Loss Lawsuit (Sep 2024 Update) (schmidtandclark.com) AirPods® Class Action Lawsuit | AirPods Lawyer, Attorney (schmidtlaw.com) AND ALSO OF INTEREST: Update: 3M Faces Billions in Liabilities Over Defective Earplugs Over 100,000 veterans of the U.S. military have initiated lawsuits against the Minnesota-based corporation, 3M, citing hearing impairments associated with what are claimed to be faulty military earplugs. The company is at risk of incurring billions in financial liabilities from either a worldwide settlement or court hearings, as service members have alleged experiencing hearing loss from the earplugs, bought by the government at approximately $7.63 per pair, upon their return from combat missions. [] 3M argues that the earplugs work when soldiers are given proper training and use them as designed. The company also claimed it has legal protection known as a federal government contractor defense, meaning that a supplier can’t be held liable for manufacturing a product that the government requested. []Many veterans who developed tinnitus have found that the condition may lead to other adverse complications such as difficulty concentrating and sleeping. Sadly, in most cases, tinnitus is permanent.
AUTOMOBILES: California Tesla Semi fire took 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish as 1000-degree blaze raged alifornia firefighters found themselves using about 50,000 gallons of water to put out a blazing battery in a Tesla Semi after an accident, the National Transportation Safety Board disclosed on Thursday. Not only did they use a massive amount of water, but they also had aircraft drop fire retardant over the "immediate area" surrounding the electric truck, as a safety protocol, detailed the agency in an initial report. Previously, firefighters had reported that the battery's temperature reached an alarming 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit during the conflagration. The inquiry unearthed that at the crash time, the truck was not running on any of Tesla's semi-autonomous driving features; indeed, these systems were not in operation and "could not be engaged," informed the agency. The accident unfolded around 3.13 am as the tractor-trailer was being operated by a Tesla staff member journeying from Livermore, California, to Sparks, Nevada. [] In a previous investigation concluded in 2021, the NTSB found that fires involving high-voltage electric vehicle batteries pose significant risks to first responders. They also determined that the guidelines provided by manufacturers on how to handle such situations were insufficient. Despite having no enforcement powers and only being able to make recommendations, the agency called on manufacturers to create vehicle-specific guides for dealing with battery fires and preventing chemical thermal runaway and reignition. These guidelines should also include information on how to safely store vehicles with damaged lithium-ion batteries, according to the agency. Tesla started rolling out its electric Semis in December 2022, a good three years after CEO Elon Musk promised the trucks would hit the road. Musk has claimed that the Semi can travel up to 500 miles on a single charge while hauling an 82,000-pound load. MSN
AUTOMOBILES: Human drivers keep rear-ending Waymos We took a close look at the 23 most serious Waymo crashes Last week Waymo released a new website to help the public put statistics like this in perspective. Waymo estimates that typical drivers in San Francisco and Phoenix—Waymo’s two biggest markets—would have caused 64 crashes over those 22 million miles. So Waymo vehicles get into injury-causing crashes less than one-third as often, per mile, as human-driven vehicles. Waymo claims an even more dramatic improvement for crashes serious enough to trigger an airbag. Driverless Waymos have experienced just five crashes like that, and Waymo estimates that typical human drivers in Phoenix and San Francisco would have experienced 31 airbag crashes over 22 million miles. That implies driverless Waymos are one-sixth as likely as human drivers to experience this type of crash. The new data comes at a critical time for Waymo, which is rapidly scaling up its robotaxi service. A year ago, Waymo was providing 10,000 rides per week. Last month, Waymo announced it was providing 100,000 rides per week. We can expect more growth in the coming months. Out of the 23 most serious Waymo crashes, 16 involved a human driver rear-ending a Waymo. Three others involved a human-driven car running a red light before hitting a Waymo. There were no serious crashes where a Waymo ran a red light, rear-ended another car, or engaged in other clear-cut misbehavior. []It’s conceivable that Waymo was at fault in these last two cases—it’s impossible to say without more details. It’s also possible that Waymo's erratic braking contributed to a few of those rear-end crashes. Still, it seems clear that a non-Waymo vehicle bore primary responsibility for most, and possibly all, of these crashes. I found a few errors in Waymo’s data Based on my conversations with Waymo, I’m convinced these were honest mistakes rather than deliberate efforts to cover up crashes. I could only identify these mistakes because Waymo went out of its way to make its findings reproducible. It would make no sense to do that if the company simultaneously tried to fake its statistics. ARS TECHNICA
BROADBAND INDUSTRY: How Big is the Broadband Industry The bottom line for me is to assume any statistic that claims a national penetration rate for a broadband statistic is not accurate – possibly badly so. This doesn’t imply that the folks making a claim are being deceptive – I think it just means that there is no consensus for the denominator used to calculate a national penetration rate. There are folks in academia and government who might be able to shed light on this – but I would expect that different experts will come up with different methods of counting. POTS AND PANS
CHILDREN SCHOOLS: Edtech Opportunities and Challenges for the New School Year The State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) released its third annual State EdTech Trends survey and report. With this survey of state education technology (edtech) directors, superintendents, commissioners of education, and other state-level policymakers, SETDA aims to catalog the way state education agencies are adapting to the opportunities and risks of increasingly ubiquitous technology. INDUSTRY
EMF OLLE JOHANSSON UPDATE: Chisinau Forum 2024/"Adverse Health Effects of Artificial Electro-Magnetic Fields by Prof Olle Johansson"/Interview by Iurie Roșca/ Yuri Roshka, the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, recorded by May 15, 2024, published by May 25-26, 2024. Please, find enclosed a recorded lecture ("Adverse Health Effects of Artificial Electro-Magnetic Fields by Prof Olle Johansson"; last version (https://arcaluinoe.info/fr/blog/2024-05-25-ovjcumjj) with the text in French; scroll down inside that link to read it in French) from the Chisinau Forum, interview by Iurie Roșca/ Yuri Roshka, the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova, recorded by May 15, 2024, published by May 25-26, 2024. https://odysee.com/@chisinauforum:5/Adverse_Health_Effects_of_Artificial_Electro-Magnetic_Fields_by_Prof_Olle_Johansson:8 https://clouthub.com/v/ESLWwpDf
(In French) https://arcaluinoe.info/fr/blog/2024-05-25-ovjcumjj
5G: INDUSTRY ‘Skyrocketing’ data usage in US fueled by 5G, says CTIA report
HEALTH LIGHTING: The Unappreciated Benefits of Natural Light Exploring the critical biological functions of a complete and balanced light spectrum Sunlight's Hidden Benefits: Sunlight is crucial for our health, dramatically cutting the risk of dying or getting cancer, yet we’re always told to avoid it. Beyond Vitamin D: While we recognize the importance of vitamin D, many other critical functions of light in plants, animals, and humans remain largely unknown and will be explored in this article. Modern Light Exposure: Our constant exposure to artificial light is mistakenly seen as harmless, but forgotten research shows it's a root cause of many modern physical and behavioral issues. Light and Blood: Blood plays a key role in conducting light throughout our bodies. Disruptions in this process (e.g., from wearing glasses that block certain parts of the light spectrum) can lead to serious health problems. MIDWESTERN DR. SUBSTACK
HEALTH LIGHT The Circadian Classroom: The Biophoton Bible Going deeper on the incredible light show within us SUBSTACK
HEALTH PRIVACY: iPhone Mental Health Assessments Just don't...Bottom line- no data is 100% secure, and this is mental health data. Data that might be extremely embarrassing, career-damaging, or has the potential to disrupt family relationships. Remember, no one knows what new laws, regulations, or mores might come to pass years from now. This type of information should not be harvested and stored. Furthermore, trusting that iPhone will never sell that data or pass it off to research groups is very naive. In fact, mental health data is already being mined. Apple has partnered with various health organizations and academic institutions to conduct health-related studies, such as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the University of Michigan on various health studies. Apple also collaborates with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on a Digital Mental Health Study. This study likely utilizes data collected through Apple devices to investigate mental health patterns and outcomes. Trusting that the user identifiers have been completely stripped before that data is passed on is a risk that one takes when entering such information into an iPhone. ROBERT MALONE SUBSTACK
POLITICS TECH BRIAN MERCHANT BLOOD IN THE MACHINE: Kamala Harris vs. Donald Trump on tech, AI, and antitrust The debate reminds us that the presidential candidates barely talk about tech. So where do they stand? []So where do the candidates stand on AI and tech policy more broadly? Such things have clearly not been either campaign’s focus, but are well worth considering. As such, here’s a look at where each candidate stands on tech policy, AI, and antitrust issues. We might not need a vivid imagination to intuit what another Trump term might hold; Harris is trickier. I’ve been watching, uneasily, some of the moves she’s made over the last months, and do worry she’d be softer on Silicon Valley than Biden on a few key fronts. But first, let’s consider a second round of Trump. Trump’s tech politics are almost entirely motivated by personal grievance. Now that said grievances have largely been ameliorated, and enough evidence can be amassed, to his personal satisfaction, that Silicon Valley loves him or whatever such thing he’d like to say in stump speeches, we can expect him to treat it like he does any other well-capitalized industry operated by the very wealthy: hands off, with favors to those in his good graces. Some kind of Musk-Trump symbiosis feels particularly ripe, and particularly noxious, even if an actual cabinet position would likely never happen. The FTC and the DoJ would almost certainly be pulled back from their current spate of antitrust efforts, power would concentrate further among the Silicon Valley giants, and union drives at tech companies (and everywhere else) would be left high and dry under a Trump National Labor Relations Board. He’d do what he could to regulate crypto less, especially given that he now owns a crypto company, too. HARRIS Along with Harris’s pointed abandonment of a number of progressive commitments articulated in her 2020 presidential campaign—medicare for all, opposing fracking—the bitcoin gesture appeared to be part and parcel of an effort to broadcast that she is friendly to tech, and to business generally, and is not the far-left radical depicted in the attack line from the Trump camp. Fortunately, after a little blowback, Harris hasn’t really followed up on the crypto reset stuff, and when she released her official policy platform, it was nowhere to be found. Worse is that Harris brought her brother-in-law, Tony West, into the inner circle as a key campaign advisor. West’s day job is serving as the chief legal council for Uber, where he makes up to $10 million a year crafting legal theory that allows the gig app giant to classify its drivers as contractors, not employees, so it can pay them what often amounts to less than minimum wage after expenses. Harris also brought on David Plouffe, a former Obama advisor who did time at Uber too, has worked for Mark Zuckerberg, and has a penchant for helping tech companies elude regulations, or bend rules to their will, even when it means breaking a law or two. These two additions to the Harris campaign staff should send up some red flags to anyone who thinks big tech should have less power over workers, not more. SUBSTACK
SCREENS VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES IEEE: Where VR Gaming Took a Wrong Turn A focus on hyper-realistic and violent immersive games misses the real potential of VR VR Gaming was expected to lead this uptake, but why hasn’t it? We believe that VR gaming has been held back by game developers who are committed to a fantasy. In this fantasy, VR games align with the values of “hardcore” gamer culture, with advanced graphics and wholly immersive play. Aspirational attempts to reach this flawed fantasy have squashed the true potential of VR for gaming. [] For VR—which sold itself as “ truly immersive”—this meant that hardcore gamers expected graphically real VR experiences. But VR environments need to be rendered smoothly in order to not cause motion sickness, something made harder by a commitment to graphical realism. This aspiration saddling VR games with a nearly impossible compute burden. []Gaming in VR has been subjected to a vicious self-reinforcing cycle wherein VR developers create hardcore games, which appeal to a certain kind of hardcore gamer user, whose purchasing habits in turn drive further development of those kinds of games, and not others. Attempts to penetrate this feedback loop have been met with the hostility of VR’s online gaming culture, appropriated from gamer culture at large. As a result, the scope of VR games remains narrow, and oblivious to the kinds of games that might take VR to its billionth user. Maybe then, the one thing that could save VR gaming is the one possibility that VR enthusiasts decried the most when Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014: Farmville VR. IEEE
SMART METERS AUSTRALIA: AEMC shirks its duty to ensure safety of accelerated smart meter rollout Over 100 submissions voiced objections and raised serious safety issues in regard to health and privacy. Yet, despite this clearly articulated opposition, the AEMC’s Directions paper of 15 August stated that ‘Stakeholders agree that there are benefits from an accelerated rollout, including most importantly benefits to customers from having earlier access to smart meter technology’, citing submissions to the draft determination as being the source for this surprising claim. As the majority of the submissions objecting to an accelerated roll out of smart meters came from individuals (in other words, the actual stakeholders who will suffer the consequences of the proposed acceleration), does this mean that, yet again, it’s the spin of big business that dwarfs common sense? Implementation of the Accelerating Smart Meter Deployment draft rule has now been pushed out from the original date slated for early July to 28 November 2024. AEMC shirks its duty to ensure safety of accelerated smart meter rollout
SPACE WARFARE: An Arms Race Quietly Unfolds in Space NY Times podcast that states explicitly that while China and Russia are trying to "maintain parity" in space, the US is trying to maintain dominance. The podcast unpacks the gory details of what's transpiring above our heads. An Arms Race Quietly Unfolds in Space https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/28/podcasts/the-daily/us-russia-space.html COURTESY KATE
Link to Apple Podcasts:
EVENTS
9/13 The National Call Agenda and Registration Link - Friday, September 13, 2024 1-3 pm ET Register at this link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUkdeGgrDgrH9LuJPktyEU2uGs3klqtYuwB
*After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
9/13 The National Call EMS Committee Meeting, Friday Sept 13, 2024, 3:30-5pm ET Link to register for the EMS Committee Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpf--qrzIvG9ybrLKPubmiPMYSS4p-dQZG After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Our discussion will focus on the EMS Guidelines.
Here is a fact sheet that explains the issues entitled "Congressional briefing" that you can send to your Congress member and Senator: https://thenationalcall.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Congressional-Briefing-5-19-24-FINAL.pdf More info at ehtrust.org/congress/ COURTESY THE NATIONAL CALL