by Adrien Schwyter, challenges.fr, 18 January 2024 - auto-translation
Despite the publication of new European standards, the measurement of waves emitted by smartphones remains poorly calibrated. And manufacturers are finding ways to slip through the net.
For the past fifteen years, have we been living with a time bomb as our main tech companion? In addition to the long-standing debate on the electrosensitivity of a proportion of the population to cell phone waves, the issue of the health impact of increasingly complex smartphones has recently come back into the spotlight. Last September, Apple was criticized for the performance of its iPhone 12, whose emissions were measured above the tolerated threshold. Faced with the threat of a sales ban, the Californian group took action. Three years after its launch, Apple attributed the anomaly to a software change.
And then, on December 1, the Official Journal of the European Union published the new standards governing the radio electrical impact of equipment emitting waves, including the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). The text may seem eminently technical, but one of its innovations is significant. Until now, only the technology developed by Switzerland's Speag was referenced among the tools that could be used to assess the human body's exposure to waves. A new, more general standard now authorizes the use of the new technology, including that developed by French company Art-Fi, which enables all devices at the end of the chain to be tested in just a few seconds.
8% of terminals tested
On the other hand, the French regulator, the National Frequency Agency (ANFR), which is responsible for ensuring that manufacturers comply with these standards, remains steadfast in its stance. Its Director General, Gilles Brégant, believes that ANFR is the agency that carries out the most smartphone tests in the European Union every year. "We carry out an average of a hundred tests, thanks to sworn agents who take samples of devices in shops or in Amazon or CDiscount warehouses", he explains. He goes on to detail the method: "We draw up a list of three types of phones that interest us: those that sell a lot in volume, those that are suspect because the manufacturer is not well known, and finally those from a manufacturer that has already had problems with us." Before the autumn episode of the lPhone 12, a total of 42 smartphones had run afoul of the inspection body, i.e. around 8% of terninals inspected.
5,000 euros per operationThe number of tests carried out is a highly sensitive issue for the "gendarme des ondes", as each operation carried out in an approved laboratory has a significant cost: more than 5,000 euros for a single device. And that's not counting the new measures requested by manufacturers, as was the case for Apple, in the event of unusual readings. In particular, the American giant criticized the French agency for not having properly tested its phone. Equipped with a multitude of proximity sensors, modern devices need to be tested in real-life conditions to achieve the most effective measurement possible.
This is where the scientific process used to evaluate smartphone emissions reveals a major flaw. The NGO Phonegate is convinced that smartphone manufacturers, familiar with conventional testing procedures, have managed to configure their devices in such a way as to falsify the data emitted and ultimately mislead the regulator. "Like carmakers during dieselgate, smartphone manufacturers have integrated software capable of spotting laboratory tests carried out with false antennas," asserts Marc Arazi. Henceforth, manufacturers are required to deactivate this software to detect the distance of the smartphone from the user's body... with no real certainty for the regulator that these will be disabled.
"I've heard about these software programs for smartphones that are capable of modifying their behavior depending on whether or not they're close to the user's body," confides Olivier Merckel, head of the physical agent risk assessment unit at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES). While it's healthy to wonder about the risks of technological change, it mustn't be simply a matter of latent mistrust of scientific institutions."
And then, on December 1, the Official Journal of the European Union published the new standards governing the radio electrical impact of equipment emitting waves, including the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR). The text may seem eminently technical, but one of its innovations is significant. Until now, only the technology developed by Switzerland's Speag was referenced among the tools that could be used to assess the human body's exposure to waves. A new, more general standard now authorizes the use of the new technology, including that developed by French company Art-Fi, which enables all devices at the end of the chain to be tested in just a few seconds.
8% of terminals tested
On the other hand, the French regulator, the National Frequency Agency (ANFR), which is responsible for ensuring that manufacturers comply with these standards, remains steadfast in its stance. Its Director General, Gilles Brégant, believes that ANFR is the agency that carries out the most smartphone tests in the European Union every year. "We carry out an average of a hundred tests, thanks to sworn agents who take samples of devices in shops or in Amazon or CDiscount warehouses", he explains. He goes on to detail the method: "We draw up a list of three types of phones that interest us: those that sell a lot in volume, those that are suspect because the manufacturer is not well known, and finally those from a manufacturer that has already had problems with us." Before the autumn episode of the lPhone 12, a total of 42 smartphones had run afoul of the inspection body, i.e. around 8% of terninals inspected.
5,000 euros per operationThe number of tests carried out is a highly sensitive issue for the "gendarme des ondes", as each operation carried out in an approved laboratory has a significant cost: more than 5,000 euros for a single device. And that's not counting the new measures requested by manufacturers, as was the case for Apple, in the event of unusual readings. In particular, the American giant criticized the French agency for not having properly tested its phone. Equipped with a multitude of proximity sensors, modern devices need to be tested in real-life conditions to achieve the most effective measurement possible.
This is where the scientific process used to evaluate smartphone emissions reveals a major flaw. The NGO Phonegate is convinced that smartphone manufacturers, familiar with conventional testing procedures, have managed to configure their devices in such a way as to falsify the data emitted and ultimately mislead the regulator. "Like carmakers during dieselgate, smartphone manufacturers have integrated software capable of spotting laboratory tests carried out with false antennas," asserts Marc Arazi. Henceforth, manufacturers are required to deactivate this software to detect the distance of the smartphone from the user's body... with no real certainty for the regulator that these will be disabled.
"I've heard about these software programs for smartphones that are capable of modifying their behavior depending on whether or not they're close to the user's body," confides Olivier Merckel, head of the physical agent risk assessment unit at the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES). While it's healthy to wonder about the risks of technological change, it mustn't be simply a matter of latent mistrust of scientific institutions."
Zero tests on refurbished phones
He advises, when in doubt, to make phone calls with wired or Bluetooth headphones, rather than with the smartphone glued to the ear, in order to reduce the degree of exposure. Even if there is no proven effect of electromagnetic fields on health," explains the expert, "it is not possible to exclude the possibility of a low risk, of the order of a brain tumor."
The subject is far from exhausted, even as the use of reconditioned smartphones grows, without any control of their emission levels.
Adrien Schwyter
The difficulties of installing base stations
Base stations in the Paris region. To avoid any controversy, operators are avoiding installations on schools.
Officially, they can be installed almost anywhere in town or country, subject to obtaining the necessary permits. Unofficially, telecom operators avoid schools as much as possible when they want to install new relay antennas. *It's not a good idea not to install relay antennas on crèches or schools," says Ariel Turpin, general delegate of the Association des villes et collectivités pour les communications électroniques et l'audiovisuel (Avicca) [French association dedicated to local authorities involved in electronic communications and audiovisual]. This is a bad solution because, in responding to a public fear, it implies that there is a risk to children's health, which is not the case." To avoid controversy and outcry from local residents, for the time being, operators are respecting unofficial exclusion zones, even if this means their network coverage is less effective for their customers.
https://phonegatealert.org/project/apres-le-dieselgate-le-phonegate/
* Article published by the French business magazine, Challenges.
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