Human WiFi sniffer is every geek's dream woman

Alright Europe, things were dubious enough when you erased children's rights to wireless access after believing that the radiation a good chunk of internet users have been subjecting themselves to for years is suddenly cause for concern, but this is a bit much. Undoubtedly crossing the line between caution and hypochondria, a British author now claims that "electromagnetic waves" emitted by the WiFi setup in her crib "left her feeling exhausted, nauseous and sleepless." Moreover, she even states that she is so sensitive to 802.11 radiation that "she can instantly tell whether it is installed in a particular room." Aside from the above symptoms, Kate Figes (pictured) described a feeling of being "prodded by 1,000 fingers" when entering a room laced in WiFi, which presumably garnered all sorts of (understandable) skepticism. Sure, we could understand the backlash associated with cellphone signals causing all sorts of turmoil in your noggin, but if WiFi is the true brain cell killer, we're all pretty much on death row.

[Via TechDirt]

[Garry @ Nov 27th 2006 8:20PM]

And effin' crazy...

[derek @ Nov 27th 2006 6:28PM]

too bad she is a liar

[John G @ Nov 27th 2006 6:29PM]

I would like to see somebody prove this and see her make a fool of herself.

[derek @ Nov 27th 2006 6:30PM]

i bet she is sick because she stays inside all day trying to get on the web... what an idiot

[Josh @ Nov 27th 2006 6:39PM]

"Author Kate Figes, spent hundreds of pounds installing wireless internet in her Stoke Newington home"
What's most depressing is how much money she spent - a good Netgear modem/router shouldn't cost more than about �80, and most shops do a router and dongle bundle.

Plus it's featured on thisislondon.co.uk. Living in the real London, I can tell you thisislondon isn't London. The London Lite is theeee worst freesheet ever. [That they're all crap is another matter!] Pah. Rant over.

[Michael Brookes @ Nov 28th 2006 5:33AM]

Metro 4 life!!

[Ian Jardine @ Nov 27th 2006 6:40PM]

Quote
she can instantly tell whether it is installed in a particular room
Unquote

This tells me she is faking it. She seems to think that if she wals outside of a room, with a router, then WiFi stops. Well it doesn't!

[Brad @ Nov 27th 2006 6:46PM]

My grandma had a similar problem with TVs and other electronic devices emitting "rays." We kept telling her it was all in her head. She did, in fact, get physically sick if she spent too much time in a room with a TV on.

Then we put her in a mental hospital for a few weeks. When she was done with her treatment and left the hospital, TVs no longer affected her. It's amazing what the mind can do to the body.

In conclusion, yes... it almost definitely is hypochondria.

[HyperHacker @ Jul 21st 2007 3:00PM]

She could probably hear the TV. A lot of people can hear them making a high-pitched whine even when displaying a blank screen and no sound.

[Tyen @ Nov 27th 2006 6:46PM]

Oh wow, this is great i thought i was the only one, i can "sense" wifi and radio transmitters, " it makes my stomach lurch. I resently bought a mp4 player with a radio transmitter inside of it and the first time i turned on the transmitter, i felt like i was going to throw up. i can only stand it for about 10mins when im using my headphones before it feels like my face is firery, ( god know whats its doing to my cells. And my laptop wireless, i can feel when its on with out looking at it. This is the reason i still use Cable. Dont believe me if you want to but leave me a message at www.tyen.deviantart.com

[AlanJC @ Nov 28th 2006 4:04AM]

That's such BS sorry! Your radio transmitter that goes maybe 30 feet max makes you feel sick, but the radio transmitters that go a hundred miles all around you every day of your life have no effect?

It's in your mind!

[Steve Wallen @ Nov 27th 2006 6:51PM]

Ummm, this should be the easiest thing in the world to test:
1. Put the woman in a room.
2. In that room have a Cisco Aeronet with the status lights blacked out
3. In another room have a scientist sshed into the router.
4. Have that scientist flip a coin: heads radio is on, tails radio is off
5. Ask the woman if the wifi is on.
6. Repeat until statistically valid.

[jnasato @ Nov 27th 2006 6:54PM]

I can feel televisions in other rooms, microwaves, cell phone tingling in my hand, among other shit. Wireless routers give off a *tiiin* but are not as broad affecting as televisions, which are probably the easiest to feel. I can feel the LCD screen of the G5 iMac I'm typing on now, and this can be confirmed by covering the lower part of the iMac (with the logo), as that seems to be giving off the most radiation toward me. Covering it gives relief between the eyes, and rapidly covering and uncovering the lower part gives a pulsing muscle tension.

I get sick in Wal Mart, and I think they have some radio-wave-brain-overstimulation machine that makes one slower and interested in crappy things. I've felt exhausted from various types of wireless radiation shit, and anyone can confirm this- even if not that sensitive to such things- by going to a secluded area (mountain, beach), free from the radio wave density of the city. One feels free and relaxed! Being in the city stresses, but a lot of people like that, too.

[whiskey @ Nov 28th 2006 11:12AM]

Silly rabbit, LCD's radiation do not emit!

[HyperHacker @ Jul 21st 2007 3:05PM]

"by going to a secluded area (mountain, beach), free from the radio wave density of the city. One feels free and relaxed!"
Could that be because you're away from the noise and pollution and ugliness and bad smells and annoying people?

[jnasato @ Nov 27th 2006 6:58PM]

Forgot to mention about Wal Mart: Ever been in Wal Mart for fricking 3 hours and buy nothing?

That's cuz...
RADIO-WAVE-BRAIN-OVERSTIMULATION MIND CONTROL!!!

[Neo @ Nov 27th 2006 7:07PM]

MYTH BUSTERS! MYTH BUSTERS!

[Matt B. @ Nov 27th 2006 8:25PM]

LOL I love that show, and this would be perfect for them. Genius

[Eliza @ Nov 27th 2006 7:18PM]

I can feel when TV's turn on near by... I think it's because my parents would never let me watch TV when I was little, so I developed the ability to sense when my Dad turned it on. When I walk into someone's house, I can easily tell if a TV is on or not. I don't know about WiFi making anyone sick (that seems a little over the top), but many people can feel microwaves and TV's.

[William @ Nov 27th 2006 9:03PM]

Yea, that's 'cause TVs make SOUND. It's called a flyback transformer and it operates at around 15 kHz.

[Dan Davis @ May 5th 2008 4:22PM]

D@MN! I always wondered what that high-pitched sound was! People think I am crazy when I tell them I can tell when a TV is on, even if there is no volume.

[otakucode @ Nov 27th 2006 7:19PM]

So she's sensitive to the 2.4GHz spectrum eh? So does she get these symptoms from microwave ovens, doorbell extenders, garage door openers, wireless security cameras, cordless phones, wireless videogame controllers, and COUNTLESS other devices currently crowding that spectrum? Wireless Internet is only the tip of an absolutely titanic iceberg.

[rdude @ Nov 27th 2006 7:26PM]

I can "feel" TVs as well. They all make a very high-pitched buzz whenever they're on, and you can hear this sound several rooms over. Most people who are accustomed to television can't sense this unless they try hard.

My point is, yeah, maybe you can "sense" certain things like a television or a microwave from the sounds they give off, but radio waves themselves? Right.

[p70(y H^(k @ Nov 27th 2006 7:44PM]

i agree with you, but i have a higher effect with almost everything... including wifi. and other stuff, read my post.

[jbulava @ Nov 27th 2006 9:45PM]

The high pitched TV effect is actually linked to age. When you are younger, your range of hearing is broader than that of an adult, which is why children and young adults can still pick up on it.

There was actually a New York Times article about someone who wanted to market this phenomenon using cell phone rings. The kids could receive calls without their parents or teachers knowing. There is also an MP3 on the article below in case you want to try it out.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/technology/12ring.html?ex=1307764800&en=2a80d150770df0df&ei=5090

[Coyote @ Nov 28th 2006 1:01PM]

jbulava *ding *ding we have a winner

Ive been able to hear TV's and other electronics being turned on for years, its not radiation but the high pitched sound of the CRT or other capacitors being charged. But being able to hear or feel LCD's is a crock.

Anybody that complains about radio waves effecting them recently should really take a look at how long we've been using radio in general... they'll find that humans have been literally bathed in them for the better part of the last century.

[Kevin @ Nov 28th 2006 1:28PM]

You can hear some LCDs too from their backlight inverter if the frequency is low enough. Fortunately all the newer ones use frequencies of 100+ KHz. Hell, I can even hear the switching supply in the ethernet hub on my desk at work... it drives me nuts but I access it too frequently to bother tucking it away anywhere else.

[Grey Acumen @ Nov 27th 2006 7:29PM]

My only issue with this is how the heck could a woman that gets sick around Wifi devices be a geek's dream woman?
That's more like a geek's antithesis.

[scott @ Nov 27th 2006 7:35PM]

I wonder how she does when she gets in the sun (which gives off the entire spectrum), I'm thinking something similar to what happened to those Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark...

[Jason @ Nov 27th 2006 7:37PM]

I believe this because I experience it myself, though to a much lesser degree. My knees throb whenever I'm within about 10 feet of a wifi NIC or hotspot. Not within 10 feet of the range of the device - thank goodness - but within about 10 feet of the active device itself.

When I first used a wireless PCMCIA card in a work laptop, I almost dropped the laptop on the floor because the effect startled me so much. Now I'm used to it and can generally ignore it, but it's definitely a real sensation.

At first no one believed it, until my coworkers and I did a little test - hide one wireless laptop in a random cube without me knowing which one, and I could find it 100% of the time be walking around until I could feel it.

[p70(y H^(k @ Nov 27th 2006 7:41PM]

ok. I'm 19, when i was 8 or something, i started to hear weird noises... when i was at school, i hear noises when the teacher's t.v is on, (but the screen is blank and you can't see any light spectrum on it, just the same when its off) then when i go over and push the power button, the t.v turns off. i have the same sound effect with my WIFI router but its barely noticeable, and my printer annoying the hell out of me right now. the worst is the mosquito ring tone, i get a huge headaches, and sometimes pass out when its 1.5ft close to me. stupid colleagues tested this on me and i passed out like i was drunk over and over again, and from then on, they kept on playing it w/ my head... and do what colleagues do. so she might be faking it, but I'm not sure... they need to do test on her like what my colleagues did to me.

[Digitalosh @ Nov 27th 2006 10:55PM]

Hah. My roommate had the same condition

[Nick Gold @ Nov 27th 2006 7:43PM]

I think it's a bit short-sighted to assume that RF emissions don't have a physiological affect on some people, sometimes negatively. Frankly, it simply hasn't existed long enough for us to know what the true ramifications are. This doesn't mean this lady is for real, but you never know. Remember that humans essentially _are_ complex electro-chemical computing systems, and it is provable that some forms of EM radiation can indeed affect our minds, sometimes very significantly (such as triggering hallucinations, religious/mystical experiences, etc.) Let's look at it like this -- if you came from a village, and nobody had allergies to dogs, and you visited the village next door with your dog, and people started sneezing and blaimed the presence of the dog -- well, you'd probably think they were nuts if you didn't know what an allergic response was. I find it likely, IMO, that people can have similar "allergies" to EM/RF radiation, sounds, and other kinds of stimuli that simply don't affect most people that way.

[tevetorbes @ Nov 27th 2006 7:56PM]

I guess I echo everyone elses cry of BS to this. Just like to reiterate a previous poster:

If this quack is so affected by radio waves, she would surely pass out from the feeling of billions of "fingers prodding her" everytime she immerses herself in sunlight. Or what about all the wiring in her house? While I've never been to her home, I think it is safe to assume that she does have electricity coursing through her walls, emitting radiation all the time...

And for anybody who says they can "feel" a TV on (or any other electronic device), are you *sure* that you just can't *hear* it on?

[Randy @ Nov 28th 2006 7:31AM]

RF has been around since the 1920's. I think 70+ years is sufficient time to determine whether or not there's any physiological effect on humans. An "Allergic" response is actually your body's immune system fighting off what it thinks is a foreign object. Radio waves are not something that your body can come in physical contact with so the allergic response is not an appropriate analogy.

This person is a hypochondriac.

[Joe @ Mar 28th 2007 6:54PM]

There is a documented medical condition of hypersensitivity to certain types of EM radiation. I cannot recall what it's called.

(to the genius who made the comment about rays of sunlight, all EM waves are not the same -- are you going to argue that x-rays aren't harmful now? they're just EM waves, after all -- people didn't used to think they were until they observed the long-term effects, by the way...)

Certain other animals have shown more pronounced responses to EM interference. Cell phone signals throw off a carrier pigeon's sense of direction, for example.

I didn't bother reading the original post. I will after writing this, and I might have something else to add. Probably not, though.

[StevO @ Nov 27th 2006 7:50PM]

The 'hearing when a TV is on' phenomenon is fairly simple.
TVs emit a high pitched noise that younger people can usually hear but older adults cannot. The principle is used in the Mosquito teen repellent device and the cell phone ring tones that teens are starting to use.

As far as feeling wifi, I'm feeling a bit skeptical. FCC approved as safe?

[Jesse S @ Nov 27th 2006 7:50PM]

I can hear CRT's when they are on. It bugs me.

[LPXXFAINTXX @ Nov 27th 2006 8:03PM]

Let's send her pictures with Wifi via the Zune!

[Gary T @ Nov 27th 2006 8:05PM]

She's going to have a lot to prove in order to win. If she does win I hope it's because there's a genuine phenomenon here other than possible psychosomatic illness on her part...

[James @ Nov 27th 2006 8:20PM]

I have been in the Radio Industry since 1989 and exposed to ALL frequencies... There is NO WAY she could tell when she is around WIFI (2.4GHz) Okay is the power was substantially higher and the antenna was a wave guide and she was looking right down the waveguide... Can she sense bluetooth or the 50Hz coming from her electrical company or the 8MHz scan speed her keyboard is using or the ..... The list goes on and on... She need to go to a dentist and stop being an attention *&%^*!

[David @ Nov 27th 2006 8:46PM]

This bitch is crazy.

[JK @ Nov 27th 2006 8:48PM]

It's called Natural selection which is a process of evolution...
In this digital era, if you can't adapt to EM waves, you are eliminated :)

[Steve Packard @ Nov 27th 2006 8:48PM]

"Frankly, it simply hasn't existed long enough for us to know what the true ramifications are." Bull! Microwave transmitters have been around since world War II. They've been everywhere for a long time. You have no idea how the inverse square law works or about cumulative dose/tissue heating/ionization vrs. non-ionization/propigation...or a lot of other big words you would not understand.

"ok. I'm 19, when i was 8 or something, i started to hear weird noises... when i was at school,"

Yes...you did hear something. No it did not have anything to do with radio interference. What you heard was the beam resyncing on the TV. I can still hear it to this day with older TV's. IT's very high pitch and younger people are better at perceiving it. If you hear a sound coming from a wall block transformer or a piece of electronics with transistors in it, that could also be caused by the electronics. However, if the transformer whissles a real lot, then it might be time to get a new transformer.

And yes...certain lighting and stuff can make you feel sick....or depressed or something. It's due to the spectoral distribution and the pulsations of AC current...not because of some EM fields.

If this woman is really that sensitive, and unless she is notch-tuned to only certain wifi channels, then I would recommend she stay away from the following: cell towers, cell phones, radar guns, cordless phones, wireless video cameras, remote car alarms, garage door openers, airports, police cars, fire trucks, tv stations, video relays, wireless intercoms, stud finders, microwave ovens....and many many many other things.

Or...she could be faking it


ANd before you go and quote something like "studies show that electromagnetic radiation effects cells..." Go reading the freaking studies! There's a huge difference between owning a wifi router and putting a massive inductor on somebody's head and sending several kilowatts through it.

[Steve Packard @ Nov 27th 2006 8:55PM]

Ionizing radiation can cause molecular damage. RF radiation: Completely different. It can cause heating of tissue and cellular fluid. Too much heating can cause problems. HOWEVER: there is NO significant tissue heating from such sources as wifi. This effect ONLY shows up in things like high power radar or microwave beams. And only at very close range.

There have been many many many studies. No well-controlled, reviewed study has ever found conclusive evidence of any health effects from low power microwave devices. EVER. Some poorly studies have shown some non-conclusive suspect stuff. But of all the studies done..NO real evidence..... EVER

Case closed. End of story. It's over. Stop beating the dead horse..it's starting to decompose. OVER


http://www.hps.org/publicinformation/ate/faqs/radiofrequencyqa.html


Excellent article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17924125.400-its-good-to-talk.html

Repost of full article:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/heatSealerRF.html

[jnasato @ Nov 27th 2006 9:13PM]

For all of you arguing that the woman would feel bothered by Sunlight if she was being bothered by her WiFi network-- radiation acts differently when applied differently. If you sit in the Sun's microwaves for 10 minutes, you will be fine. If you sit in your microwave oven and turn it on for 10 minutes, you will die a horrible death. The Sun's microwaves are based on pulsed direct current (DC) and microwave ovens use alternating current (AC)-- different application= different result.

And about any health concerns, psychology is a huge health concern, if there are in fact no physical health concerns. If my sunglasses pose no physical health concern but have a feather sticking out of it that constantly tickles my eyelids, that is a serious psychological health concern, if I wear those glasses all day. Likewise, if the wireless networks are poking me everywhere I go, that would be a serious psychological health concern.

[lejupp @ Nov 28th 2006 9:06AM]

So the sun is running on DC? Interesting...

[Gary T @ Nov 27th 2006 9:27PM]

*jnasato said: Likewise, if the wireless networks are poking me everywhere I go, that would be a serious psychological health concern.*

She'll have to prove that a statistically significant number of people are affected before there's even a *glimmer* of hope of getting rid of, or changing, wi-fi.

Otherwise, I'm sad that, if those terrible signals are driving you mad, you'll have to make your meds, my friend. Oh well. :p

[Rosewriter @ Nov 27th 2006 10:30PM]

She's a geek's dream because she'll replace the WiFi sniffer application on your laptop in hotels and airports. I once wondered if radiation from my desktop was making me sick and dizzy, but I realized that I needed stronger glasses. Madly opening and scrolling pages when I finally paid for cable DSL, driven by the speed of it, also helped drive the aforementioned weak eyes into a Web-glutting tizzy. Maybe she needs the dial-up connection that the Slowskies (turtle family) preferred on the Comcast commercials, and not just to avoid wireless acupuncture. After all, the Slowskies maintained that high speed wasn't for everyone.

[Frangible @ Nov 27th 2006 10:16PM]

Why don't you guys look on PubMed before making claims about things of which you have no knowledge? RF energy certainly does effect the brain, and there are numerous studies over decades proving this, here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=16882618
and another http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=14995060

Now, that's not saying they cause *negative* effects or brain damage per se. Appearently epileptic individuals are more sensitive in some cases to RF energy, depending on the specific location of the epilepsy. Finally, it should be noted the temporal lobes in the brain are especially susceptible to EM fields, with some fields producing hallucinations and religious experiences in some individuals. In the literature, a child having temporal lobe seizures from the EM field by an alarm clock near the bed was noted! It varies per individual though, and it's interesting to note self-described "atheists" failed to have a normal response to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the temporal lobe.

It has been hypothesized low-frequency radio waves detected by the temporal lobe are the mechanism underlying earthquake detection by animals. If so, it's not surprising huamns don't detect them, since technology-generated radio noise would drown anything that low level out.

Does it cause cancer? No. Is it detectable, objectively? Yes. Are some individuals (ie those with epilepsy) more sensitive? Yes. Can this woman detect them? I don't know. But it's possible.