Following ease of access to porn by kids because phones are not registered by age, teddy phones for under 5s, warnings by Russian scientists that teens and under should not use mobile phones at all, and the sale of "track you kids" facilities "to keep them safe", look how easy it is to be "bugged":
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1699080,00.html
How I stalked my girlfriend
So what? This year every UK traffic camera will be number-plate recognition enabled, and 35 million journeys a day will be collected and stored at Hendon.
http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/uk_first_country_monitor_every_car.htm
http://www.libertyforum.org/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=news_crime&Number=294261367&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1&t=0
Why track a car when you can track a person?
One day combination mobile communication and personal id devices will be tiny, permanently worn and obligatory. In fact it's getting trendy to look like Star Trek and wear it permanently on your ear (heaven forefend someone should need me in a hurry and find me absent!) Your history and location will be continually scrolled into permanent storage to keep you safe and to eliminate you from suspicion; you will be able to rely on big brother to keep you safe because those wicked men pervading society (no, not the trackers, profiteers and global controllers raiding and despoiling the planet, silly! Those evil ones who think people should be free!) will also be tracked and filtered out.
Makes you wonder whether "... of course we have nothing against mobile phones" is not the thing to be saying as mast campaigners: or is that too hard-line?
Andy
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What is so good about this network is that it provides so much inspiration to people. At times I feel I am banging my head against a brick wall but to know you're part of a group of likeminded people is very reassuring. Having campaigned against 3 masts in my vicinity, with very little support (why are Bristolians so apathetic) the comfort derived from the postings from all you regulars is fantastic. I am no expert on these matters, have no technical expertise, but I know when something is fundamentally wrong. I do what I can by posting on various discussion boards and writing letters to the local press in the Somerset/Gloucestershire areas. I try and respond to all local mobile phone press stories (having read them on the "News Now" page of the Mast Sanity website). Approximately 20% of these are published.
I never have, and never will own a mobile phone until this technology is proved safe. That is my choice. Oddly enough, the more I read about the whole industry, and the more I see people becoming so reliant on their mobiles, the more determined I am never to own one. In fact, I am delighted with the freedom of not owning one. But in some ways it is even more annoying for me, being bombarded with EMR from 3 nearby masts, when I don't even use a mobile. As an ME sufferer the masts are not helping my condition. My house is up for sale so hopefully I get get away from the worst of the EMR.
So Andy/Agnes/Sandi/Frans/Klaus/Sylvia/Eileen and all you other regulars, please keep the info and emails coming. Never underestimate the positive effects your words of wisdom can have on others.
John Elliott
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Andy....
As founder of mast sanity got to say Ive NEVER said we are not against mobile phones... Course we are! However im not against free choice and its up to adults to become informed and decide for themselves whether they want to risk it and how much they want to risk and I ALWAYS point out that they have to take responsibility for those people round masts whenever they use their phone... Most people seem happy to believe the risk from masts but not from phones... Wonder why!! In the end I care about my husbands use of his mobile (work only now - except when his brother rings who insists on using his mobile for everything...has a permanent red rash all over his face and allows his kids (4 and2)to use his mobile too!!) ) and my sister, brothers and their kids but everyone else its tough.. As long as I dont have to pay for their medical bills in the future I really don't care. Whats the saying we can force a cow to water but we cant make it drink.. Think I might have got the wrong animal there!! Whatever animal it is I should really have said sheep!
We are very activly against the use of mobiles by kids and they are people I do care about HOWEVER its pointless to keep going on about it we need to provide USABLE information. I feel In the last 4 years masts have become a bigger issue because of the provision of information about them in readable small formats.. It doesnt exist for phones which is why I started Cell phone Awareness (
http://www.cpawareness.org/ but its offline at mo) so people could post information leaflets specifically designed for mobile phone users... Children teenagers young adults adults parents.... However noone has offered to help provide that info and my family committments at present do not allow me to fulfil my promise to myself and you lot that I would provide that information - its def a future job for me as thats the next stage for my children :>(
Sometimes it does feel like we are banging are heads against the brick wall... But we are right and in the end it will be proven. In someways we are the lucky ones...as we KNOW and we can do something to protect ourselves. Unfortunately many people out there don't know and are unprotected I want to get info to them that they can read and WANT to read... Not scientific mumbo jumbo or ponderings (I love it but many don't) but factual short info sheets that get that point across without extreme statements but provable factual information.
I still feel it CAN be done.. I still think we CAN win. However it's an uphill struggle and Mast Santy cant do it without all of you.... I am - though as Ive passed the buck to lots of other trustees now - WE are continually grateful for everyones postings. I live in a village now with noone complaining except me.... With crap councillors who think im a loony and refuse to even acknowledge my emails REMEMBER that Amanda when you communicate with the new MP Mark Hunter - hes a tw*t!)if it wasn't for the list even I might get despondent and not bother anymore.... It's a fantastic support network... But it could do with more people on it so please convince other people to join.. Info would get out a lot quicker if they did!
John.... I remember when you first contacted us a few years ago.... Shell garage Fantastic campaign.... I know you've won some and you've lost some but you keep going and you've always helped Mast sanity as spokesperson and especially grabbing the ex tory leader Michael Howard last year if I remember you didn't really fancy it (who would!)but we had noone else so..... Without support from people like you mast sanity wouldnt get anywhere
WE just have to keep chipping away even though it often seems we are fighting a losing battle.. Even if we know they are going to win we cant let them win easily we all continue to make it as difficult as possible for them and I certainly get pleasure from that even when I know in the end I will lose some of those fights.
And no I wont ever have a mobile phone... And my children have been told id prefer them to smoke!
Me to Frans.. Technology is fantastic... Mobile technology is a fantastic achievement BUT it shouldn't be used in the way it is...
Its greedy fat men in suits that abuse it all
Science and innovation and our whole world is being corrupted and restricted by those who want it all and know that they wont be around to face the consequences.. Their spin machines will make sure of that..
Cheers
Lisa
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I agree that the system cannot operate at levels that may be 'safe' if there is such a thing. Therefore we must be against mobile phones. It has taken me a year to come to this realisation however. The trouble is the PR, if we say we are against mobile phones we will lose a lot of support that we need and the mainstream press who are wedded to their phones, but we need to convince them to start printing stories.
I think we just need to convince people using the softly approach and hope that they too will gradually come to realise that we can't have mobile phones.
If we explain that each mast can only take approximately 100 calls and the masts have equipment to measure the 'lost call rate' so that if there is demand another mast will be brought. Let people work it out for themselves.
I feel very depressed at the moment what with global warming, GM, etc . No time to fight all the battles.
Sarah P
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Lisa
Do you remember a few years ago that tests were carried out in South Africa and Poland/Russia in which people were able to communicate with each other on mobile phones using only the natural Schumman waves of the earth?
It is not just the telecom companies and the Gov't we are up against - people are addicted to their mobiles. They are biochemically and psychologically addictive. Addictions - alcohol, fags, drugs, cooked food, dairy, grains etc - are notoriously difficult to treat. A major defence employed by addicts is DENIAL. People will automatically deny/challenge any info you present them if they don't want to hear it. A lot of the time - in my experience - they are actually unaware that their denial is anything to do with their mobile dependency. This scares me. What are we up against?
That's why people will believe the stuff about masts but not their own mobiles.
Re a leaflet about mobiles, what about something like Art Kab which was posted up here a few weeks ago? I've made it into a leaflet, dropped off piles all over Brighton and they're going like hotcakes!!!
We could do with general leaflets we can all print off and distribute. Maybe MS could also start up a leaflet info service whereby it could produce and sell batches of leaflets making only a slight profit to help cover MS running costs but undercutting mainstream commercial prices?
All the best
Gary
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Hi John,
Unfortunately, it's not only Bristol, apparently there's a similar problem across the Bristol Channel in areas of Cardiff. We're discussing ways of raising awareness/harnessing interst concern etc via a network of MS members in that area, so if there is anyone in the area of Cardiff who wants to help organise a public meeting in that area, let me know.
Also, a message from Sylvia to everyone - she is offline at the moment, as she is in Wales, and also AOL sub. She watched Midlands News report on Karen Brady, (Birmingham City FC director, who is being treated for a brain tumour, and wondered if there was a connection, and if Karen Brady was aware of the possible causes of acoustic neuroma etc. And Sandi still can't access masts because of the aol problem (as with Sylvia and Sian), so that's why they aren't on at the mo.
On the subject of mobile use, I'm afraid that I owned one back in 1995, as I decided I needed one when I started driving in case I broke down in the middle of nowhere, etc.
Guess what, I did break down once or twice, and the mobile did come in useful once or twice, but as the free minutes made use more and more economical, I became one one those people who couldn't live without a mobile, even before they were widely used. As I stopped using a mobile, I am now having to 'learn' organisational skills that I forgot during all those years of mobile use, when I just rang a number and someone told me or met me or brought me what I needed or rescued me, etc people expected to be able to get hold of me at any time of the day or night, and couldn't understand why I had it switched off most of the time (I wasn't that stupid). Yes, i can honestly say with my hand on my heart giving up my mobile was a wrench, and it took almost a year to be weaned off it as I had become so crap at living without one. Since I ditched my mobile I have broken down a couple of times as I drive rather an old car, but guess what - I managed! Not only did I manage, but I have noticed that usually if anyone has broken down and is talking into a mobile, no-one stops to help because they assume it is all sorted, and the driver has to wait for the AA etc. I have found that now I don't have a mobile, I get people stopping to help more quickly, as I am usually looking under the bonnet! It's amazing how one can jump from one side of the fence to the other, isn't it? Now whenever I see a mobile I see a problem, not a miracle, and I'm just so glad that I broke away from the hoards of sheep that you see bleating into their handsets as they walk into objects, each other, vehicles and damaged DNA!
Take care,
Amanda
