Phonegate: [First reaction] “New smartphone withdrawals in France: Time to move up a gear in Europe”

[First reaction] “New smartphone withdrawals in France: Time to move up a gear in Europe”
Press Release, Equipe Phonegate, phonegatealert.org, 25 July 2019

In a press release published on 25 July 2019, relayed by the 60 million consumers website, the French National Frequency Agency (ANFR) announced the withdrawal of two new smartphones marketed by the Malaysian company LEAGOO INTELLIGENCE CO. and by the Romanian company S.C. VISUAL FAN SRL.

Indeed, the tests of “trunk” SAR controls carried out in August and October 2018 by an approved laboratory showed that :

“ANFR measurements revealed values exceeding this limit. Indeed, the SAR of the LEAGOO S8 phone was measured at 2.39 W/Kg and that of the ALLVIEW X4 SOUL MINI S phone at 4.6 W/Kg”

Ministerial order prohibiting the sale of goods

Wireless Radiation: New Awareness Campaigns Launched by Cyprus and Italy

Compare the awareness campaign on environmental and health impacts of mobile phone use recently launched by the Italian Government with that of Cyprus regarding how to reduce wireless radiation exposures.

Cyprus 

Environmental Health Trust 24 June 2019

Cyprus has launched an awareness campaign to educate the public on how to reduce wireless radiation exposures. The campaign includes large scale signs on pubic buses with the slogan “Don’t Irradiate Me: Learn How to Protect Me” along with posters, brochures and videos translated into both Greek and English.

The Campaign was launched at a press conference June 24, 2019 with recommendations include simple advice on how to protect children at home

“With 5G, We are Guinea Pigs”: Swiss Magazine Reports First 5G Injuries in Geneva

“With 5G, We are Guinea Pigs”: Swiss Magazine Reports First 5G Injuries in Geneva
By Marc David,

Global Research, July 22, 2019
L’illustre 18 July 2019

This article was originally published in French on L’illustré, translated into English by Claire Edwards on EMFacts Consultancy.

Since 5G antennas were installed near their home in the heart of Geneva, these residents of the same area suffer from various health problems. Are they victims of a technology whose dangers were not sufficiently tested? A doctor and member of parliament speaks out.

Gathered in the apartment of one of the two, on the fifth floor of a building in the centre of Geneva, these residents of the same area look at each other. What they have in common is insomnia, tinnitus, headaches. And a lot of unanswered questions. The youngest, Johan Perruchoud, 29, has lived there for 11 years and is not the type to cultivate any sort of hatred of invasive technology. He is a healthy young man, active and positive, who has just returned from four years in New York and makes finely crafted videos and films for the media or for individuals, often working in his room with his computer.

“Like in a microwave oven”

Italian Government Unveils Plan to Tackle Smartphone Addiction

Italian government unveils plan to tackle smartphone addiction
AFP/The Local, 22 July 2019

Italian government ministers have drafted a law aimed at preventing and treating the rising phenomenon of addiction to mobile phones and the internet, particularly among young people.

Photo: DepositPhotos

The bill seeks to treat the fear of not having access to a mobile phone - so-called "no-mobile-phone phobia" (also known as "nomophobia") – and anxiety over not having access to social networks or messaging apps.

It proposes education programmes for parents to detect excessive mobile phone use in children.

The bill also lays out plans for "education towards for a conscientious use of the internet and social networks" in schools and universities.

Nomophobia particularly affects young people, often preventing them getting a good night's sleep.

Italy: "Your mobile is smart. Use it intelligently ”, the information campaign Miur, Ministries of Health and the Environment, is underway

Link to the Italian Ministries' site with campaign videos and infographics (in Italian).

"Your mobile is smart. Use it intelligently ”, the information campaign Miur, Ministries of Health and the Environment, is underway

Editorial staff, orizzontescuola.it, 19 July 2019 - auto-translation

Miur [Ministry of Education, Universities and Research], the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Sea are launching the information campaign from today 19 July “Your mobile is smart. Use it with intelligence ”.

Targets

The objectives of the information campaign, as we read on the Miur website, comply with the provisions of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (sentence n. 500/2019): promote the correct use of mobile telephones (cellular and cordless phones); inform about health and environmental risks related to improper use of these devices.

I’m an Engineer, and I’m Not Buying Into ‘Smart’ Cities

Andrea Chronopoulos

I’m an Engineer, and I’m Not Buying Into ‘Smart’ Cities
By Shoshanna Saxe, Opinion, The New York Times, 16 July 2019

Dr. Saxe is an assistant professor of civil and mineral engineering at the University of Toronto.

Sensor-equipped garbage cans sound cool, but someone still has to take out the trash.

TORONTO — Like a classroom full of overachieving students, cities around the world are racing to declare themselves “smart” — using sensors, data and ubiquitous cameras to make themselves more efficient, safe and sustainable. Perhaps the most famous initiative is here in Toronto, where Sidewalk Labs, a sibling company to Google, recently released a 1,500-page master plan to remake two neighborhoods with things like snow-melting roads and an underground pneumatic-tube network.

Smart cities make two fundamental promises: lots of data, and automated decision making based on that data. The ultimate smart city will require a raft of existing and to-be-invented technologies, from sensors to robots to artificial intelligence. For many this promises a more efficient, equitable city; for others, it raises questions about privacy and algorithmic bias.

We Tested 5G Across America. It’s Crazy Fast—and a Hot Mess

First part of article and extracts:

We Tested 5G Across America. It’s Crazy Fast—and a Hot Mess

by Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal, 18 July 2019

In tests, the 5G often switched off due to summer heat, leaving our columnist to cool the devices with ice packs or air conditioners

Today’s forecast: 95 degrees and sunny with thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. No chance of 5G testing.

One of the biggest findings of my multi-city 5G review tour: The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G isn’t reliable in the summer—unless, well, you summer in Iceland.

When I ran tests, the phone’s 5G often switched off due to overheating, leaving me with a 4G connection. Cellular carriers demo-ing or testing the phone have taken to cooling the devices with ice packs and air conditioners.

The phone does this when the temperature reaches a certain threshold to minimize energy use and optimize battery, a Samsung spokeswoman said. “As 5G technology and the ecosystem evolve, it’s only going to get better,” she added.

New Law Asks California Schools Ban Smartphones In Classrooms

New Law Asks California Schools Ban Smartphones In Classrooms
gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com, 8 July 2019

(Photo): Pupils using mobile phone at the elementary school during recreation time. Group of multiethnic children sitting in a row and typing a message on smartphone. Young boys and girls playing with cellphone.

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – California public and charter schools can now ban students from using smartphones in class and at school, except under certain circumstances.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 272 in early July.

Switzerland: Smartphones Definitively Banned from Schools in Canton Vaud

Switzerland: Smartphones definitively banned from schools in canton Vaud
rts.ch/info, 26 June 2019 - translation

Mobile phones will be banned during classes, breaks, school outings and camps for Waldensian schoolchildren in canton Vaud until 11P [age 15]. The Training Department made this decision after a pilot experiment that was deemed successful.

Since the start of the 2018-2019 academic year, ten schools have been testing such a ban. In concrete terms, schoolchildren must turn off and store smartphones and connected personal devices during school hours, says the Department of Training, Youth and Culture (DFJC) on Thursday.

Described as beneficial by "almost all the actors concerned", the experience will be extended to all pupils in the compulsory cycle from the next school year onwards. Parents will benefit from advice on the use of the screens that will be added to the agenda as of the beginning of the August school year.

Switzerland: 5G Network: Operators' Lobbying has a Strong Impact

5G Network: Operators' lobbying has a strong impact
by Eric Breitinger, Bon à savoir, 3 July 2019 - translation

TELECOMMUNICATIONS: The precautionary principle is about to be sacrificed on the altar of economic interests. Operators are skillfully maneuvering to tip the Confederation's report in their favor.

Should the radiation limits for mobile phone antennas be increased? Yes, answer Swisscom, Salt and Sunrise, who are waiting for this to quickly develop the new 5G network, especially since they have just spent $380 million on 5G licences... On the public side, concerns are emerging. The cantons of Vaud, Geneva, Jura and Neuchâtel have also frozen the construction of new antennas pending the imminent conclusions of the working group on "Mobile telephony and radiation".

No evidence of danger....

Established by the Confederation, this group includes representatives of federal offices, telecommunications companies, cities, physicians and radiation specialists. In particular, it will base its recommendations on an expert report commissioned by the Swiss Telecommunications Association (ASUT), an association headed by a committee on which Sunrise and Swisscom sit.

Denmark: Legal Opinion on 5G: Presentation at 5G Conference, Christiansborg, 4 May 2019

Legal Opinion on 5G
EDITOR, emfsa.co.zam 2 July 2019

Source: https://helbredssikker-telekommunikation.dk/nyheder/LegalOpinion5G

‘The Council on Health Safe Telecommunications” has, in cooperation with the Danish EHS Association, MayDay and The Danish Institute of Public Health arranged the 5G Conference at Christiansborg Maj 4th 2019.

The Conference was concluded with a presentation by Lawyer Christian F. Jensen of Bonnor Lawyers, based in the city of Holte. The Lawyer’s conclusion is: establishing and activating a 5G-network — as it is currently described — will contravene current human and environmental laws enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, EU regulations, and the Bern- and Bonn-conventions protecting natural habitat and migrating species.