Editorial: Are we ready for Wi-Fi? Council can expect earful

| The New Mexican

4/30/2008 - 4/30/08

Another of our country's crises of credibility lands on City Hall tonight as the mayor and council hold a hearing on wireless computer service and its dangers — real, imagined or merely exaggerated.

The council is considering Wi-Fi access at City Hall and eight other places around town — libraries, recreation centers and the airport.

Wireless Internet service isn't just valuable; it's so commonplace, many Americans can't imagine doing without it. At today's libraries, whose job is providing information, it's hard to find an open computer terminal — yet the Web is where most up-to-date information is found, not to mention the archived stuff on various sites.

So Wi-Fi would allow increasing numbers of people, especially younger ones, to download what they're looking for. Today's research depends on the Internet; Wi-Fi is an integral part of it.

But wireless transmission involves electromagnetic waves — at frequencies some experts say can cause, or make worse, any number of health problems: allergies, asthma, Alzheimer's and chronic-fatigue syndrome among them.

But other experts bridle at the notion — especially chronic fatigue, which can be scoffed at by some as less a disease than a laziness.

Is Wi-Fi worse than what emanates from cell-phone towers — or cell phones themselves, which some say are already bad? Or is all this electromagnetic threat less than that of sharks in the Santa Fe River? And, bad as it may be, is the miracle of today's electronics worth the risk?

A federal government worthy of the name would have given a serious look at that question. America doesn't have one at the moment — and in absence of in-depth research, our country is inundated with bogus science, both in favor of and against high-yield, high-risk technological advances. Whatever good information might be available is shouted down by mad scientists and Luddites.

This evening, Mayor David Coss and the council can expect persuasive-sounding testimony from both sides. If they're lucky, they might hear from someone who knows what he or she is talking about.

As for Santa Feans expecting a decision from those worthies, lots of luck; the council's custom is to postpone action until everything is clear: Even after their fingers to the wind have dried, most of the eight councilors remain nervous about crosswinds of opposition, however faint. So unless the chambers are mobbed by woo-woos with symptoms of electro-ills, the issue is likely to be "tabled" — until, perhaps, someone shows up with a crystal capable of absorbing the worst of the waves. That's not an impossibility, by any means — but then the Wi-Fi opponents might find new reasons that it shouldn't be installed in the City Different.

And therein lies another "out" for the council: Wait until enough other cities have gone wireless, and see whether there's medical proof of harm.

In the meantime, we'll retreat to the relative safety of the 19th century, and hope that visitors, including prospective businesses, will find in our quaintness sufficient reason by itself to come here.