Global Wi-Fi From Space
Dear Friends,
The printed newsletters I send out normally go mainly to members who
have donated to the Cellular Phone Task Force. It is one of the things
they pay for, and requires significant time and money to put together
and mail.
However, there have been some requests that the newsletter I mailed last
week also be sent out in electronic form so that it can be forwarded.
Since the matters discussed in it are of such critical importance, I am
attaching it to this email, which I am sending to everyone on my email
list. If you value what is in it, please consider making a donation to
our organization. Donations can be made on our website at
http://www.cellphonetaskforce.
I consider plans for global WiFi from space to be a planetary emergency.
It must be prevented. Please contact me if you wish to be involved.
Arthur Firstenberg
(505) 471-0129
November
15, 2014
“Just
a little rain falling all around
The grass
lifts its head to the heavenly sound
Just a little
rain, just a little rain
What have they
done to the rain?”
|
-
Malvina Reynolds
Dear
Members and Friends,
On
September 23, 1998, 66 satellites,
launched into low orbit by the Iridium Corporation, commenced broadcasting to
the first ever satellite telephones. Those phones would work equally as well in
mid-ocean, and in Antarctica, as in the middle of Los Angeles—a remarkable achievement.
But on
that date exactly, electrically sensitive people all over the world experienced
stabbing pains in their chest, knife-like sensations in their head, nosebleeds,
asthma attacks, and other signs of severe electrical illness. I interviewed 57
electrically sensitive people in six countries. I, and many others that I
interviewed, were so sick for the next two to three weeks that we weren’t sure
we were going to make it. I suddenly lost my sense of smell on September 23,
1998, and it still has not returned to normal. Statistics published by the
Centers for Disease Control reveal that the national death rate rose 4 to 5
percent during those two weeks. Thousands of homing pigeons lost their way during
those two weeks, all over the United States.
Several
companies are now competing to provide not just cell phone service, but WiFi,
to every square inch of the earth from satellites in space, or from balloons,
or from drones. There isn’t much time.
At the
end of this newsletter I will share a few thoughts about what is possible, and
the obstacles we face.
WI-FI IN THE SKY
Tesla
Motors CEO Wants to Put WiFi Everywhere
In 1994, Bill Gates
and Craig McCaw envisioned an “Internet in the Sky.” Their brainchild,
Teledesic Corporation, planned to launch 840 full-sized satellites into low
earth orbit in order to cover the entire planet. WiFi had not even been
invented. The time was not ripe.
Last weekend, however, billionaire
Elon Musk announced that both the time and the technology are now here. His
company, SpaceX, is planning to launch 700 “advanced micro-satellites,” at a
price tag of around $1 million each, to accomplish what Gates and McCaw
envisioned two decades ago. Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla Motors, said
details will be released in about two to three months.
So Does Google
Google is not so ambitious: it is not planning to
send WiFi quite everywhere. After
all, it is planning to do this from balloons flying at an altitude of 60,000
feet. It would require over 250,000 balloons to cover the entire globe. So, as a start, Google wants to send up enough
balloons to cover the entire 40th southern
parallel. A pilot experiment was conducted in June 2013 in
New Zealand’s South Island, where about 30 WiFi balloons were successfully deployed.
In May-June 2014 Google tested its balloons in Piauí, in northeast
Brazil. And on October 6, 2014, the FCC gave Google a permit to test its WiFi
balloons for six months above Stanley, New Mexico, a small town only 35 miles
from where I live.
Astro Teller, head of the project,
said he expects a permanent set of balloons to be up and running in one or more
countries by June of next year.
So Does Facebook
Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg laments
the fact that only 40 percent of the people on the
planet use the Internet. He is partnering with mobile
phone companies Qualcomm, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia,
Opera Software and Samsung to remedy that unfortunate
situation. His new Connectivity Lab will develop satellites, lasers,
and solar-powered drones to “beam internet to people from the sky,” he
announced on March 28 of this year.
the fact that only 40 percent of the people on the
planet use the Internet. He is partnering with mobile
phone companies Qualcomm, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia,
Opera Software and Samsung to remedy that unfortunate
situation. His new Connectivity Lab will develop satellites, lasers,
and solar-powered drones to “beam internet to people from the sky,” he
announced on March 28 of this year.
Update on
Lawsuits
Pettipas
Trial
in the case of Pettipas v. Bell Alliant is
set for April 20, 2015. Edna and
Marshall Pettipas of Afton Station, Nova Scotia, were injured in 2007 by a cell
tower that was built behind their house, and Edna has developed breast cancer
and had a bilateral mastectomy.
On July 18, 2014, the Pettipas named
the following doctors, scientists, and engineering consultants as their expert
witnesses:
·
Enrique Navarro, PhD, Professor of Physics,
University of Valencia, Spain;
·
Horst Eger, MD, of Naila, Germany;
·
Anthony Miller, MD, of Toronto,
Canada;
·
Martin Blank, PhD, Retired professor
of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University;
·
Kumar Biswas, ND, of British
Columbia;
·
Jonathan Fox, MD, of Fall River,
Nova Scotia;
·
Ben Boucher, MD, of Halifax, Nova
Scotia;
·
Magda Havas, PhD, Associate
Professor of Environmental and Resource Studies, Trent University, Canada;
·
Walter McGinnis, of McGinnis
Electric in Victoria, BC; and
·
Patrick Last, building biologist in
Salisbury, New Brunswick.
The Pettipas still need
to raise money to bring all these experts in for trial in
April. Tax-deductible donations to their cause may be made on our website (http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/?page_id=196), or using the form at the end of
this newsletter.
April. Tax-deductible donations to their cause may be made on our website (http://www.cellphonetaskforce.org/?page_id=196), or using the form at the end of
this newsletter.
Firstenberg
My two lawsuits have been assigned
to a three-judge panel of the New Mexico Court of Appeals. In both cases, I
have argued that people with electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) are
protected by municipal, state, and federal disability laws, just like people with
any other disability. I have also asserted our rights under the Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
In Firstenberg v. Monribot—now Case No. 32,549 before the Court of
Appeals—I sued my neighbor, Raphaela Monribot, in order to establish my right
to live in my own home. I asserted that for an electrically sensitive person,
wireless technology is a private nuisance, and that my neighbor may not operate
a nuisance that injures me and deprives me of my home. An amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief in support of my position
was filed with the court by
94 organizations in 22 countries on 6 continents, representing hundreds of thousands of people.
94 organizations in 22 countries on 6 continents, representing hundreds of thousands of people.
In my other case, Firstenberg v. City of Santa Fe—now Case
No. 33,441 before the Court of Appeals—I asserted that by approving technology
which causes a segment of the population injury amounting to torture, eviction
from their homes, and exile from their city, the city has deprived them of
life, liberty and property without due process of law, in violation of the
Fourteenth Amendment. The city has also denied them the equal protection of the
laws, also in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. I asserted that to do this
to people who have committed no crime is illegal, unjust, and unconstitutional.
Both cases have been assigned to the
same three-judge panel and are pending. I have asked for oral argument.
Morganroth
Cases
In 2001 and 2002, Michael Murray, Baldassare Agro, Pamela Cochran,
Richard Schwamb, Dino Schofield, and David Keller, who all had brain tumors from their
cell phones, filed suit in D.C. Superior Court, asking for more than $1 billion
in damages each. For more than a decade the industry and the plaintiffs have
played tug-of-war with these cases, sending them back and forth between federal
and state courts, and fighting over whether the plaintiffs’ claims are
preempted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Although these high-profile cases
have long been forgotten by the media and the public, these lawsuits, and 24
other brain tumor cases, are still very much alive and are still being hotly
contested in the D.C. courts. There are 60 industry defendants, including
Motorola, Nokia, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Mitsubishi, Apple,
BlackBerry, the IEEE, ANSI, the CTIA, and the FCC. All of the plaintiffs, or
their heirs, are represented by Jeffrey B. Morganroth of Morganroth &
Morganroth, a law firm in Birmingham, Michigan.
On August 8, 2014, Judge Frederick
H. Weisberg seemed to hand the plaintiffs a partial victory when he admitted
the testimony of five expert witnesses for the plaintiffs. They are:
· Dr. Michael Kundi, professor of epidemiology and occupational health at
the Medical University of Vienna;
· Dr. Igor Belyaev, head research scientist at the Cancer Research
Institute at the Slovak Academy of Science in Bratislava, Slovakia;
· Dr. Wilhelm Mosgoeller, professor and medical doctor at the University of
Vienna Medical School’s Institute for Cancer Research;
· Dr. Abraham Liboff, professor emeritus of physics at Oakland University
in Rochester, Michigan; and
· Dr. Laura Plunkett, pharmacologist and toxicologist in Houston.
In allowing the experts to testify,
Judge Weisberg wrote: “Federal law is the supreme law of the land, but there is
no constitutional provision that says federal facts are the supreme facts of the
land. Federal law can preempt state law, but it cannot preempt scientific fact.
The scientific truth, whatever it may be, lies outside of the FCC’s regulations
about what is ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe.’ ”
However, the tug-of-war continues
and trial has been postponed yet again. On October 1, 2014, Judge Weisberg permitted
the defendants to immediately appeal his ruling allowing the experts to
testify. The cases are back, at least temporarily, in the hands of the D.C
Court of Appeals.
NATIONAL PARKS THREATENED
Navy to Turn Olympic Peninsula into Electronic
Warfare Training Range
Deadline
for Comments: November 28, 2014
Due to massive public outcry, the comment period for this terrifying Navy
project has been extended until November 28, 2014.
Briefly, the Navy is proposing to
turn a large part of Washington’s magnificent Olympic Peninsula, as well as a
portion of northeastern Washington, into Electronic Warfare training ranges. A
giant antenna resembling a house-sized golfball will be installed at the Naval
Station at Moclips, just outside the Quinault Indian Reservation. According to
the data in the Environmental Assessment, I calculate that it will have an
effective power of 5 million watts. It will be capable of sending 64
simultaneous beams at frequencies of between 2 and 18 GHz. The golfball will be
only 40 feet off the ground.
In addition, three mobile,
truck-mounted antennas will be moved around between 15 different sites in the
Olympic National Forest, and three more mobile antennas will operate from 8
different locations in the Okanagan and Colville National Forests in
northeastern Washington. They will each have a power of 100,000 watts, and will
be in use 260 days a year, 8 to 16 hours a day. The city of Forks will be
directly in the line of fire, right between three of these locations and the
Pacific Ocean. The locations in the Colville National Forest are next to the
Colville Indian Reservation, about 70 miles northwest of Spokane, and one is
only 3 miles from the city of Oroville.
UHF transmitters will also be added
to an existing tower on Octopus Mountain for communication with aircraft and
ships. The Navy’s EA-18G Growler jets, stationed at nearby Whidbey Island, are
the centerpiece of the Navy’s electronic warfare program. Made by Boeing, the
Growler’s “vast array of sensors and weapons provides the warfighter with a
lethal and survivable weapon system.” The Navy already has 80 supersonic
Growlers stationed at Whidbey, and is asking Congress for funding to add 36
more.
The Quinault, Colville, Makah, Hoh,
and Quileute Indian Reservations, as well as a large part of Olympic National
Park, will be bombarded by radiation from air, sea, and land if this
Environmental Assessment is approved.
Send
your comments by November 28 to Greg Wahl, USDA Forest Service, 1835 Black Lake
Blvd SW, Olympia, WA 98512. Be sure to reference “Pacific Northwest Electronic
Warfare Range Environmental Assessment # 42759.” Or, you can submit your
comments electronically at: https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=42759
The Navy is also accepting public
comments on its plan to add up to 36 additional Growler jets to its electronic
warfare fleet at Whidbey Island. Comments can be submitted at whidbeyeis.com/comment.aspx.
Or, they can be mailed to EA-18G EIS Project Manager, Naval Facilities
Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Atlantic, 6506 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk, VA 23508.
Be sure to write “Attn: Code EV21/SS” at the top of your comments. Comments on
this project are due January 9, 2015.
Streaming Wireless in Yellowstone?
“Can Old Faithful compete with
Netflix?” asked a headline earlier this month. There are already cell towers
inside Yellowstone Park, but the bandwidth is not very good. You can speak and
text on your cell phone, but you can’t do much else with it. However, if
CenturyLink gets its way, a $34 million fiber-optic line will soon run through
neighboring Grand Teton National Park and into Yellowstone. People could then
upload pictures and stream video on their smartphones and tablets while hiking.
Negotiations are underway with the National Park Service.
WHOLE FOODS INSTALLS WIRELESS
“APPLE PAY” NATIONWIDE
Please Call 512-542-0878 to Request Accommodation
Every checkout counter at every Whole Foods store nationwide is being
equipped with “Apple Pay.” “Apple Pay” allows customers who have an iPhone 6 to
pay by passing their iPhone over the credit card reader.
This means that every credit card
reader now emits microwave radiation. It means that everyone has to stand
inches away from a wireless device in order to check out. And if you want to
pay by credit card, debit card, or food stamps card, you have to handle a
wireless device. In Santa Fe, these wireless units were installed one month
ago.
I have requested accommodation for
electrically sensitive people at the Whole Foods stores in Santa Fe. I
requested that Whole Foods remove the Apple Pay device from one checkout
counter in each store so that people with this disability can shop. I have not
yet received an answer. However, this affects every store in the country, and
hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, most of whom do not know
about the new wireless devices and will not know why they become ill while checking
out at Whole Foods. I suggest people call Whole Foods’ global customer service
number, 512-542-0878, and ask that all stores nationwide be made accessible to
electrically sensitive people by removing Apple Pay from one checkout counter
in each store. People who wish to help with this campaign should contact me.
_________________________________
END
NOTE
The
prospect of WiFi from space was a primary reason our organization was formed in
1996. A year earlier, Sarah Benson had contacted me from Australia and
impressed upon me the emergency nature of this threat. Teledesic Corporation’s
plan for an Internet in the Sky was an imminent danger to life on earth, and
Sarah urged me to join her in starting a global opposition, in order to prevent
it.
Teledesic
did not get off the ground, but our fears were confirmed on September 23, 1998.
Cell phone service from space disoriented birds, injured many people, and was
lethal to some. There was nothing we could do about it, so we all adjusted to
the new environment as best we could.
A
few years later, scientists in Ukraine, analyzing fifty years of Russian and
Ukrainian research, issued another urgent warning. Large fleets of communication
satellites delivering massive amounts of data from low orbit, they said, could
cause changes in cell structures, physiological processes, DNA, and behavior in
all life on earth. They predicted a “catastrophic increase in the number of
cases of cancer.” Their paper, “Influence of High-frequency Electromagnetic Radiation
at Non-thermal Intensities on the Human Body,” was published as a supplement to
our journal, No Place To Hide, in
February 2001.
At about
the same time, in 2001, WiFi became a reality here on earth, and before we knew
it, it invaded people’s homes on a large scale, to such an extent that it is
impossible to buy a laptop computer today that is not equipped with it.
Now,
plans for an Internet in the Sky are back. This time they are likely to
succeed, because the profit to be made from joining every person on earth to
the social media network is now greater than the expense that would be incurred
in making it happen. But the opposition has become more difficult to organize,
and the primary reason is that, unlike in 1995, almost everybody owns a cell phone. People are so used to carrying
around their phones in their pockets at all times that they are unable to think
of them as dangerous. Even many electrically sensitive people that call me
these days, desperately ill, call me from their cell phones and do not want to
hear that the first thing they have to do, for their own sake and for the sake
of our planet, is throw them away.
Our
organization was named “Cellular Phone Task Force” because it was obvious from
the beginning that wireless technology would destroy our world, and that the
foundation and driving force behind all cell towers and telecommunications
satellites, and now WiFi, Smart Meters and all the rest of it, is the cell
phone.
We
face several other problems in uniting all the people who are against this. For
example, the solution that used to work for electrically sensitive people—pack
up and move to a safer location—no longer works, because there is no safer
location left. This fragments us, because people are spending more and more of
their time and resources in an effort to find safety for themselves and/or to
try to get cured—an effort that is increasingly futile. It is our planet now
that desperately needs to be cured. It is the electrically sensitive that, although
suffering severely, are in some way the healthiest people, the most attuned to
the planet and to the disaster that is befalling it. Like it or not, it is up
to us to open the eyes of those who cannot yet see what is happening.
And
unscrupulous entrepreneurs are preying on our population. Large sums are being
spent on therapies that do not work, pendants, pyramids, and plug-in devices
that are useless or harmful, and filters and shielding materials that are at
best inadequate and at worst dangerous. Unorthodox practitioners are telling
people their EHS is caused by “Lyme disease” and are selling them expensive “Rife
machines” to cure it, which, however, are nothing but generators of
electromagnetic radiation and are guaranteed to make them sicker. We are being
distracted by tales of “chemtrails,” an elaborate hoax that was invented in
1996 by white supremacist Larry Wayne Harris, and that has been deliberately
disseminated by powerful interests in order to dilute our energies and discredit
us.
The
unadorned truth is not easy to face. Naturally everybody wants there to be a
magic fix—a machine that will kill the invading bacteria, a device that will
erect a force field around you, reflective paint that will keep it all out of
your house. Nobody really wants to know that the inevitable result of being
able to fly to Paris whenever you want is ugly trails in the sky, or that the
inevitable result of being able to use a cell phone in an emergency is an
Internet in the Sky, raining microwaves.
The
books that are being published, the lawsuits that are pending, the scientific
research that is being conducted, and the individual campaigns that are being
mounted, all over the world, are crucial. But they are not enough. The fight
against Smart Meters cannot be won if it is only
about Smart Meters. The opposition to electronic warfare will not succeed if it
is only about electronic warfare. The
construction of refuges for the electrically sensitive is futile if the coming
rain of data is not prevented. None of these efforts can succeed unless the
conversation becomes open, candid, and unified. This is possible.
The
filing of an amicus brief in court by
94 organizations from all over the world—North and South America, Europe, Asia,
Australia, New Zealand and Africa—shows that it is possible. This is the first
time that so many people have cooperated in a unified effort to establish the
rights of people with EHS, and the harm that electromagnetic radiation is
causing to our world.
Arthur
Firstenberg
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