Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The "Precautionary Principle" is a tool for Luddites

Or Luddite Tools, as the case may be:

An Ontario teachers' union is calling for an end to new Wi-Fi setups in the province's 1,400-plus Catholic schools.

The Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association says computers in all new schools should be hardwired instead of setting up wireless networks.

...
The OECTA, in its paper, said the "safety of this technology has not thoroughly been researched and therefore the precautionary principle and prudent avoidance of exposure should be practised."
The Ontario English Catholic Teacher's Association membership all need to go back for remedial biology and physics courses.  Pay particular attention to the bit about ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.

Sheesh.  This is the point where anyone who ever uttered the words Republican War of Science can just shut up and sit down in the back of the room grownups are talking now.

And what's the over/under that this is just a negotiating position and that the Association will find that fatter paychecks block the harmful effect of WiFi rays?

9 comments:

  1. I heard 'safety of this technology' and immediately thought WEP has been hacked, WPA has been hacked, SSL certs have lots of issues--it's only a matter of time before WPA2-Enterprise/RADIUS/whatever gets hacked...

    I prefer glass connectivity. Much more difficult to intercept.

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  2. I thought they were just worried about people stealing a WiFi connection to browse porn.

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  3. No, that feature is for the teachers...

    BTW, WTF is a Luddite?

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  4. The precautionary principle: Never do anything for the first time.

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  5. Luddites are technology-averse people. Originally they were English textile artisans who protested (with much shouting and property damage) the increasing use of mechanized looms during the Industrial Revolution. They took their name from one Ned Ludd, who supposedly broke some knitting frames in a fit of anger.

    wv: kygasm. Commentary is left as an exercise for the reader.

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  6. I'm a collector of "Repulican War on Science" gaffes like this one. And indeed, this is a stunning example that the only "war on science" conservatives have is the war on social pop sciences. Conservatives seem to have a lock on the physical sciences.

    I only wish the GOP would wake up and start pushing these types of stories into the media. Given that the GOP like business, and business depends on science and technology, you'd think they'd want to retake the title back for liberals.

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  7. If it is a scam to help in contract negotiations I think they just did themselves some harm.

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  8. Do they suggest banning cel phones and instead requiring using only land lines too?

    Nevermind they are probably safe when they are just set to vibrate...

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  9. Prof Robert Higgs, recommends that we apply the precautionary principal to the leviathan itself.

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