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]

[crypt @ Nov 27th 2006 10:18PM]

Wireless Internet Check
Bluetooth Headset Check
Two mobile phones Check
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Check
Sitting next to 68cm Tv and IR remote Check
Sitting next to Xbox and Wireless Controlers Check
Wireless landline Telephone Check
Sitting to a sh*t load of power cables to run said appliances Check.

In all honesty if she is feeling a little sick from one of these then surely I should be dead.

[Jim @ Nov 27th 2006 11:30PM]

Can this woman pick up Ka, X and Laser bands like a radar detector too? If yes, road trip!

[Jon Berry @ Nov 27th 2006 11:35PM]

"prodded by 1,000 fingers"
doesn't she mean 802.11 fingers?

[Sinbios @ Nov 28th 2006 12:26AM]

For everyone who think they can "sense" TVs, it's because TVs emit a really high pitched whine that's very hard to notice, since humans can't detect frequencies above 20kHz very well. However, if one is familiar enough with the sound they could subconsciously detect it. So it's detection by air waves, not radiation.

[Mark @ Nov 28th 2006 3:08AM]

The TV high pitched whine is definitely something you can hear, its just the TV's components that make a high pitched noise for the scan rate of the TV. Thats audible noise, but hearing or feeling 2.4 ghz is suspect, not to mention she would've had this problems years ago when people started having 2.4ghz phones, and all the other little things that use that frequency. Its possible, but in all likelihood its totally in her head.

[xVariable @ Nov 28th 2006 3:29AM]

*Randy said: Radio waves are not something that your body can come in physical contact with so the allergic response is not an appropriate analogy.*

Not that I believe her, but what exactly do you think radio waves are? OF COURSE you can come into physical contact with them. It's the 21st century and such deep ignorance exists about something as rudimentary as this? Christ...

[BurnZ @ Nov 28th 2006 4:00AM]

"every geek's dream woman"

I'm sorry, she isn't Jessica Alba.

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

The only thing you guys can *sense* is the high pitched whine of capacitors in electrical equipment. You are not special, you just have sensitive hearing. Even if you don't hear it conciously, you're borderline enough to know something is there. High pitched noises can create a sense of pressure on the ear drum, and that can cause headaches, and nausea.

It does not mean you are sensing radiation or radio waves though. That would be silly.

People always seem to forget high power FM transmissions, TV transmissions, people with cellphones near them, and the constant bombardment from satellite TV and communications they live with every day. None of this affects them obviously, or else they would be in a padded cell rocking back and forth by now.

[abigsmurf @ Nov 28th 2006 5:51AM]

people 'sense' TVs because they make an ultra high pitched whine on the edge of hearing that is suprisingly loud (CRTs at least).

However this woman saying the wifi makes her head hurt...

Does she get headaches walking past mobile phone antenae? does she have trouble being near high voltage power cables? in the same room as her microwave when it's on? I very much doubt it.

Wifi routers and mobile phones emmit pitiful amounts of EM. If you're across the room I imagine you're talking milli-watts, so little energy it would be impossible to make any difference on a short term basis.

[Galley @ Nov 28th 2006 8:55AM]

I met a woman at a Mac demonstration who suffers from the same thing. She can only be around electronics for an hour at the most. I forget what the ailment is called; electro-magnetic sensitivity or something like that.

[Nick @ Nov 28th 2006 10:03AM]

Too bad she's clinically insane...this lady is nuts...seriously we have been exposed to RF radiation since the invention of the radio...so get over it

[Steve Packard @ Nov 28th 2006 11:24AM]

"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."


A. The sun does not run on DC. It does not run on pulsed DC. It does not run on electricity at all.
B. When you're in the sun, you are in visible light, as well as infrared and uv. The sun does produce microwaves, but on earth, they make up a very small portion of the absorbed energy.
C. If you are in a microwave, you will not die because it runs on AC current. You will die because you are one foot away from a 1kw+ magnetron who's energy is concentrated in a small metal box.
D. It's not an issue of psychological vrs physical health concerns based on very low power microwave transmitters. It's an issue of whether or not they have any perceptible or appreciable effect on the body. They don't.

[Evan @ Nov 28th 2006 4:49PM]

As a lot other people have said so far i too can "sense" TV's. They all are the same and you can very slightly sense a high pitched sound.

Wifi? Wouldn't that be pretty much like "feeling" light outside the visible spectrem? I don't think thats possible (besides like high energy radiation of course). I mean with sensing TV's it's basically like hearing a really high pitched sound.

[Elliott @ Nov 28th 2006 6:16PM]

Actually, after installing the sveasoft firmware on my Linksys WRT54G router slapping on some 15dbi antennas and boosting the output to the max 251mw then leaving the router close to my computer I did actually get very painful headaches. I figured since the 2 gigahertz frequency is also close to the same frequency we use to nuke food in the microwave, it probably wasn't a good idea to have the wattage up so high on the output. Other than that, considering the crazy things I did in high school, I don't think I'll live past 30 anyway...so like hell if I'm going to sacrifice wifi access for my Pocket PC phone edition.

[christian miles @ Nov 28th 2006 7:38PM]

well, one good way to test this would be to do a double blind test, or even a blind test would be good enough, similar to how people say they can bend spoons with their mind, but then when they are tested nothing happens. I bet this lady is exactly the same

[MIKE @ Nov 30th 2006 8:53AM]

I wouldnt use WiFi if people paid me to.

[danj3ris @ Nov 30th 2006 3:15PM]

This is nothing. I can tell what toothpaste someone uses by smelling their crap.

And yea, I had to share that with you. :)

[Don @ Dec 13th 2006 12:06PM]

"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."

Except that it's been studied to death already, and no causation has been linked. Also, radio emissions have been around since the early universe, and locally here on earth for 4.5 billion years or so in vast amounts from the great wi-fi emmitter in the sky.

[Damoblin @ Mar 16th 2007 4:01PM]

I hear a slight buzzing sound when I plug in my DS lite Charger... maybe it's related...

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

Phew. I hear it too, I was worried it was defective.

[joshpsp1.5 @ Mar 29th 2007 12:05PM]

lol cool like a geeky version of super man/woman lol

[Phoenix Enigma @ Mar 29th 2007 6:46PM]

I'm a bit torn on this one. On the one hand, there is some precedent for people being able to sense active RF signals - RADAR techs in WWII could 'hear' active sets, because the microwaves actually heated their inner ear, causing vibration that they interpreted as sound. And I will vouch that one can, under some circumstances, hear CRT sets - which is probably the sound of the 30kV discharge involved in such devices, maybe only with sets that have had some air leak in(? - as far as I know, it's only ever old, old CRTs) On the other hand, if she's sensitive to 2.4GHz so much that WiFi bothers her this much, I can't imagine what a microwave or 2.4GHz phone would do - seeing how as they can completely swamp a WiFi signal

[gjggg @ Sep 7th 2008 11:29AM]

Test £££ " ." "."