Wi-fi Safety

The Telegraph is reassuring:

"It’s worth remembering that Wi-Fi occupies the same part of the spectrum as microwaves, which sounds terribly alarming. If it can boil water, surely it’s bad for us too? Well, no. Not at such low power. This is also the frequency of the cosmic background radiation, the echoes of the big bang that fill the sky. There is literally nowhere in the universe that does not have microwaves pinging around in it."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/11599311/Wi-Fi-is-not-harming-our-chidren-heres-the-evidence.html

Time for an experiment:

 
Pioneers Of Science - Part 1 from Smooth Feather on Vimeo.

The Health Effects of Wifi in Schools

 

 

"Published on 9 Feb 2020

 

A Community Aware Scotland Discussion of I.C.N.I.R.P. (International Commision on Non Ionising Radiation PROPAGANDA!) so-called 'safety' Guidelines and the Adverse Health Effects of using WIFI in Schools in the UK. This is a discussion between Cllr Paddy Hogg and Simona Panaitescu who set up Community Aware Scotland, seeking to provoke discussion and debate on these issues..."

No safety studies for 5G

Former Microsoft Canada President, Frank Clegg, speaks about the risks of 5G wireless technology.

Telecom transmitters outside schools

Mark Steele reports that he has been getting a lot of questions about 5G transmitters being placed near schools. How safe are they?

"It`s a bit bizarre," he says "How these telecom companies - allowed by councils -  are putting transmitters up next to schools. 
The Council of Europe says the radiation transmitted should be no more than 200 millivolts."

Mike records a level of 1500 millivolts outside a school where hundreds of children are playing in the playground.

Call for EMF guidelines

"There is currently an international appeal (https://www.emfscientist.org/index. php/emf-scientist-appeal) signed by 237 EMF scientists from 41 nations urging the UN and particularly the WHO to exert strong leadership in fostering the development of more protective EMF guidelines, encouraging precautionary measures, and educating the public about health risks, particularly risk to children and fetal development."

https://takebackyourpower.net/un-staff-member-5g-is-war-on-humanity/

Cell phone masts - another cancer scare

The Glastonbury experiment

"A 'weapons grade' phone technology that has sparked health concerns - and been linked with a spate of suicides at Bristol University - will be tested at Glastonbury Festival..."

"A 5G mobile network is to be trialled during Glasto as part of EE's ongoing trials of the technology. 5G is the next generation of mobile network and is expected to begin publicly rolling out later this year, offering internet speeds up to double that of current generation 4G. EE has said it will install five temporary masts across the Worthy Farm site, which will enable festival-goers to connect to 2G, 3G, 4G and - for the first time 5G - networks. The trial will be the first time the technology has been installed at a festival."

"While many scientists believe 5G is perfectly safe, some - including a public health professor at the University of California - have described 5g as `a massive experiment on the health of all species`."

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/glastonbury-festival-test-mobile-phone-2790807

================================


"A Silicon-valley engineer turned technology health advocate, Jeromy Johnson discusses our attachment to technology and the health hazards such an addiction may hold. "

Despite the health warnings, along comes an even more powerful wifi technology, as this commenter on the above video has said.

AI technology for shocking online child abuse

[UK Column 4 September 2018]

Mike Robinson: "Now yesterday we mentioned Sajid Javid making it his personal mission to deal with child sexual exploitation online; and I suggested that, perhaps, there was a bit more to this than meets the eye; because let`s face it, the British government for many many years of many political hues hasn`t exactly felt that this was a subject that they particularly needed to deal with."

 

"So they`re going to keep children safe online and as we made the point yesterday Sajid Javid said that he was absolutely shocked...at the scale of the potential for abuse of children online; and so he had said that all technology companies had to step up their efforts to tackle online sexual exploitation; and that was the result of this figure of 80,000 people in the UK presenting some kind of sexual threat to children online; and a 700% increase in child images being referred to the National Crime Agency."

"But he said that while he was pleased at the efforts of online platforms to tackle online extremism following the government`s calls for them to do that a couple of years ago.... really they needed to do something about this issue as well. Well, as I say, you know, this seemed very fishy to me because government has done absolutely nothing in this area in the past. But we don`t need to worry because ... at the same time Sajid Javid is making this statement and saying that the social media companies and the big online companies needed to do something about this, well, Google just had a press release ready to go - just a pure coincidence Brian. It wasn`t staged in any shape or form; they just had it ready to go, this announcement, which took place about the same time Savid Javid was making his."

"And they`re saying that they are going to use AI to help organisations detect and report child sexual abuse material online. So this is a new free tool that they`re offering to service providers, NGOs and other technology companies which is going to be able to review content at scale and use deep neural networks for image processing. They can now assist reviewers sorting through many images by prioritising those that are the most likely to contain child sexual abuse material... So that`s good."

"So Javid had said that he wanted technology companies to stop child grooming taking place on their platforms. He said he wanted them to work with government and law enforcement to shut down live-streaming child abuse. He wanted companies to be much more forward leaning to help law enforcement agencies to deal with these types of crimes; and he said that he wanted them to show a greater level of openness and transparency and a willingness to share best practice and technology between companies. So if you were taking this problem seriously those suggestions are probably quite useful; but I maintain a healthy scepticism."

"Now the other item that he mentioned on his list was this: that he expected ... technology companies to block child sexual abuse material as soon as companies detect it being uploaded. And this one stuck out for me because ... this is identical  to the EU`s copy directive."

"Article 11 of that failed to pass in July which was all about the ability for technology companies to scan content as it`s being uploaded to their platforms and automatically censor content that they didn`t feel was appropriate. Now, of course, I am by no means suggesting that child sexual abuse material is appropriate to upload but of course this is ... about implementing, or finding an excuse to implement, certain types of technologies. I just reiterate the point that at no point in the last 30 years has the British government done anything to deal with this issue and suddenly now we`re dealing with it by implementing policies and implementing technologies which aren`t going to make a huge amount of difference to the people who are perpetrating these crimes but are going to make a huge amount of difference to us; because what this means is that all material being uploaded to these platforms is being scanned... under the cover of being scanned for the purposes of identifying this material."

"What else is going on today?"

"Well Cressida Dick the police commissioner for the Metropolitan Police said: `Vital evidence in criminal investigations held by tech and social media firms should be made available in minutes.`"

 

"So, in other words, what we`re building here - under the - this is a pretty cynical effort I think by Sajid Javid - to build a police state using child abuse ..."

Brian Gerrish: "As a way of levering in the censorship."

Mike Robinson: "Absolutely. And I`ll just say once again the British government has done nothing on this issue, and you know, I have to say I`m staggered that the various police authorities are able to offer any statistics on this:  Suddenly we`ve got this big statistic of 80,000 people and a 700% increase; because one thing we`ve been flagging up over the last number of years is how statistics with respect to child abuse and children in care and so on, these statistics are impossible to find because they`re not held...So how they magicked these up for this purpose is another question I`d like an answer to."

Brian Gerrish. "Very interesting. Well if we might pop the lovely Cressida Dick back on the screen there Mike I read this. It makes me wince: ...`Vital evidence in criminal investigations held by tech and social media firms should be made available in minutes`. "

"For what? Because, Ms Dick, when one of your own policemen, John Wedger, came forward with his evidence ... that the abuse of children...children dying, was being covered up by the Met police, by MPs, by local authorities and charities, your force did absolutely nothing with that evidence. In fact, they attacked John Wedger: bullied him, threatened him, put him on half pay, stopped his pay. So this was all on the watch of Cressida Dick and yet she`s now standing up to threaten internet companies that you better produce this information. Presumably she wants the information to help close it down, as was done with John Wedger. "
　
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siUBHz7d2ps

Privacy breaches

And SEEMiS.

The NO2NP campaigning group has learned that "the SEEMiS app, operating in Named Person pilots despite the Supreme Court judgment, tells users to `override consent` as a matter of course."

"A video tutorial for the app told practitioners"

"To extract information you will have to qualify why you’re taking it out of the system. The system asks a user to confirm whether or not consent has been given to share information. By default, most of the time, you’ll be able to tick ‘I wish to override consent’. Otherwise, you’ll have to show that you asked for parental and child consent."
"Yes, you read that right," the group continues: "`Override consent` `By default` `Avoid having to show that consent has been given`. An eagle-eyed NO2NP supporter captured a screenshot of the tick box in question...and posted it on Twitter."

"Several hours later, the video tutorial and associated guidance were deleted. This tells us that somebody, somewhere, knew the advice was in conflict with legal requirements."

"But all of this raises a much bigger question: if the SEEMiS app is still telling non-statutory named persons across the country that they can override consent, is unlawful data sharing still going on?"

"And if so, what are the Government going to do about it?"

Read more https://no2np.org/named-person-database-encouraging-users-override-consent-default/

Transforming mental health with apps

Towards the end of this edition of UK Column News, Mike Robinson said there was good news from the government. It was going to be `supporting each and every child and young person to fulfil their potential by transforming mental health services in this country.`

`Hundreds of new mental health workers will start working in and near schools and colleges from next year.`

`Schools and colleges will train a dedicated mental health lead to ensure young people get the help they need.`

`The first teams to begin working in schools and colleges will be in `Trail Blazer Locations` by the end of 2019`...

"So this is fantastic news," says Mike Robinson sarcastically. "Apparently 8,000 counsellors are going to go into schools to protect, well, what some mainstream media were calling a generation crushed by digital pressures. And so this is all about dealing with children that are getting involved in unhealthy online behaviours. And who`s behind this? "

"But of course it`s the illustrious Matt Hancock. Here he is, the health and social care AI boss. And he`s urging parents and also technology companies to do more to protect the young from pressures of social media. And how`s he going to do that? Apparently when he was speaking to the BBC Newsbeat, the sort of teenage news service, this morning he said there needs to be more use of apps in the National Health Service. And so we`ve got to do loads more in that area. The use of technology and apps is the way to do it. So this is a quote from him."

"`One of the things I`ve done in different parts of government is make sure that it`s more tech savvy and digital... We need more apps. How else can we maintain the business model?`"

"Because of course he has his own app. He promotes his own app. And if we have more apps we can have more apps on children`s phones and therefore children can suffer more mental health issues and then they can put more people into schools to deal with those mental health issues. And then they can produce more apps. ... It`s a fantastic business model and for the taxpayer it`s a great deal and I must applaud Matt Hancock for his brilliant business head."

Brian Gerrish: "It gets even better, Mike, because we understand that Westminster has now got an online game targeted, of course, at children; so a child can log into that particular site and experience what it is like to be an MP, waking up and having coffee and toast while you answer emails and you then follow through your day with a game generating what happens..."

"Presumably when children are playing that game it`s helping them to be mentally ill !"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SScV9DRIpk

Predicting the future ?

"London councils are using data analytics to predict which children are at risk for neglect and abuse, allowing them to act before crisis occurs and prevent more costly, extensive interventions. Developed by technology company Xantura and trialled by councils including Hackney and Thurrock, the model analyses various data sources, including school and health records, to judge families’ risk scores. Around 80% accurate, it identifies and alerts social workers to those who need extra support."

"One local authority has identified nearly 400 additional families to receive support, and more than 80% of risk alerts in Hackney have been deemed valid. Councils are expected to save over $910,000 for early targeted interventions, $160,000 by replacing human-conducted screenings with an automated system, and $193,000 for improving access to multi-agency data."

https://apolitical.co/solution_article/london-uses-data-predict-which-children-abuse/

Will they also try to predict risky local authorities and incompetent social workers ?

Or the dangers of biased algorithms ?

The tyranny of algorithms

From Cathy O’Neil, writer of ‘Weapons of Math Destruction’

"Big data essentially is a way of separating winners and losers. Big data profiles people. It has all sorts of information about them — consumer behaviour, everything available in public records, voting, demography. It profiles people and then it sorts people into winners and losers in various ways. Are you persuadable as a voter or are you not persuadable as a voter? Are you likely to be vulnerable to a payday loan advertisement or are you impervious to that payday loan advertisement?"

"So you have scores in a multitude of ways. The framing of it by the people who own these models is that it’s going to benefit the world because more information is better. When, of course, what’s really going on and what I wanted people to know about is that it’s a rigged system, a system based on surveillance and on asymmetry of information where the people who have the power have much more information about you than you have about them. They use that to score you and then to deny you or offer you opportunities."

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/10/dont-trust-that-algorithm/

Impressive robots in education

Remembering Aaron Swartz

"Guerilla Open Access Manifesto"

"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world`s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitised and locked up by a handful of private corporations..."

"Those with access to these resources - students, librarians, scientists - you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not - indeed, morally, you cannot - keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world... "

"Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by: You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends."

"But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground: it`s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn`t immoral - it`s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy."

"Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it - their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies..."

Aaron Swartz

Tim Berners-Lee

Dangers of snap map

"MINISTERS have teamed up with Police Scotland to warn children of popular social media app Snapchat which reveals users’ locations."

"Holyrood officials have also contacted the service provider who have given their backing for updated guidance to youngsters and their parents."

"Privacy concerns were raised last month after it emerged the app’s new feature revealed users’ exact location and what they were doing."

"Child safety groups warned Snap Map could put youngsters at risk of stalking and bullying but Snapchat insisted location-sharing was `completely optional` and off by default..."

"The SNP administration is working closely with digital media providers and industry to support young users and provide information to them and their parents and carers to keep them out of harm’s way."

"Earlier this year the Government also produced an action plan on the issue and works closely with Education Scotland to promote the message in schools..."

"A current support page explains: `Your friends will be shown on the Map with their Bitmoji. Sometimes, their Bitmojis might even show them driving, walking, or more! If they don’t have their Bitmoji account linked, then you’ll see them as a blank Bitmoji outline`."

"The NSPCC immediately raised concerns about the app and said: `It's worrying that Snapchat is encouraging under 18s to broadcast their location on the app where it can potentially be accessed by everyone in their contacts list`."

"`With public accounts, this will include those who are not known to the user`..."

"Statistics show the charity's Glasgow Childline base handled almost 50 calls from around the UK linked to Snapchat based bullying between June and July 2017 while over 2015/16 the service carried out close to 900 counselling sessions with children contacting them from Scotland on the issue."

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/831867/Ministers-Police-Scotland-warn-kids-children-Snapchat-revealing-location-Snap-Map

Private interests around the NHS

[UK Column News 19 July 2017]

"Although the government says it is protecting the NHS the evidence, easily accessible, is that privatisation of the NHS is taking place. "

"Let`s come in on the subject of memory...."

 

A viewer sent in the NHS document Getting help for forgefulness

"Forgetfulness is common particularly as we get older", reads Brian Gerrish. "Well that`s certainly true. `Often this is nothing to worry about. However, forgetfulness that interferes with your daily life is not a normal part of getting older`."

"So this is all very gentile, measured stuff. I decided to follow it through a little bit more. Where has this come from and what`s it about?"

"So let`s bring in this one. And I noticed in the recommended organisations we had Admiral Nursing. I thought that looked particularly interesting. I didn`t recognise it. So I followed through that link that`s been provided by the NHS. That brought us into Dementia UK."

"Now I found that interesting that the initial brochure is simply saying, `Well, a little bit of forgetfulness as you get older is fine. If it interferes with your daily life, yes, maybe you`ve got a little bit of a problem. You can always speak to your GP about that`. But behind it we`ve got an organisation who is interested in dementia and in fact they are interested in providing dementia nurses - this is Admiral Nursing - and of course we`ve got a limited company backing up this charity providing this service. So if you were cynical you could say: `Well actually this is about money`."

 

"We had a look at some of the individuals involved and this lady caught my eye, Lady Barbara Judge, one of the trustees; experienced international corporate lawyer with significant experience as a senior executive;  Chairman and non-executive Director in the private and public sectors; First Woman Chairman of the Institute of Directors; worked in US, Hong Kong and the UK; also it says here, Chairman of the UK Pension Protection Fund and Deputy Chairman of the Tepco Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee."

"So this is quite a lady Mike. In fact she`s recently left that UK Pension Protection Fund, but interesting you`re working on one hand with a Pension Protection Fund and with people getting near the end of their life in another role. I`m not sure I have a comfortable feeling about that. But if we follow her through it gets more interesting because this is Tepco; this is taking us to part of the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings and this is into nuclear safety. So this lady has got many talents and if we bring in this part which is a short summary of her CV we find that in 1978 she starts off with a large American law firm but by 1980, a mere two year later, she`s appointed by the President as Commissioner of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. How do you do that?"

"I`m not sure," says Mike Robinson. "But I don`t see any health care in her career at all."

"No it`s fascinating. She then jumps on through a lot of money work; 1994 to 2009 she`s Director and subsequently Deputy Chairman of Friends Provident plc and in that same period she also becomes Director of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. So that is really an amazing career progression."

"But she`s now working to help people with their memory."

Mike Robinson: "So we`ve got people ...deep into private interests circling the National Health Service at the moment. So it might not come as a surprise then that transformation is what it`s all about. We`ve got local partnerships."

"This is sustainability and transformation partnerships of the NHS. And £325million, it`s been announced, is going to be invested in NHS transformation projects. We don`t quite know what the NHS is being transformed into. We believe it`s being transformed into something which is ready for privatisation. The government continues to deny that, but we as a matter of course, don`t believe them."

"So this is Jeremy Hunt and also NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens who has announced this £325million capital investment for local projects that are going to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients. And it all sounds very good. In Greater Manchester hospitals will deliver significant improvements in urgent and emergency care by concentrating services in four hub sites across the city. It is expected to save around 300 lives each year in general surgery alone. In Bedfordshire local doctors and nurses are developing a primary care hub on the site of Bedford Hospital which is expected to improve access to same day appointments for around 50,000 patients and reduce the number of patients attending the hospital`s A & E department. In Derbyshire the urgent care village will be created at the Royal Derby with GP services, a frailty clinic and mental health services to ensure patients receive the right care in the right place at the right time."

"So, what do you think ?"

Brian Gerrish: "It`s privatisation. It`s being clustered around the NHS, a little bit done at a time. It`s all about collaboration, hubs, networking, linking, partnerships. But what it really is, is privatisation."

"Well, actually it`s even more interesting than that. Here`s what Jeremy Hunt said: `This funding will support strong local plans to help the NHS modernise and transform care for patients`. In fact, what they`re talking about in amongst all these projects is the merger of the NHS and local authorities, effectively, in some departments. So why would you have close collaboration and close merger between NHS functions and local authority functions? "

"Because that will link you in with everything to do with social services as well and therefore you`ll effectively be captured in a net. The state will operate a net around each individual."

"Absolutely. And it goes even further than that too. Let`s have a look at one of their examples. `Nottinghamshire: turning ambitious IT plans into reality`. So this is one of these projects. And what are they talking about? Data sharing...."

"`Qualms about sharing` is what they say on here. We have a portal that is capable of bringing data from different health and care systems for new ways of working as joint assessment. There has been a lot of emphasis on improving data quality and the implementation of summary care records. To this end, Connected Nottinghamshire is using the medical interoperability gateway to share patient data regardless of the clinical system used. This was first implemented in greater Nottingham and has since been rolled out across all GP practices within Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ... and it supports safer prescribing, apparently, improved diagnosis and patients` full history is accessible. Who is it accessible to ?"

"Private corporations ultimately Mike."

"And the local authority."

"Yep."

"And that is of concern."

"Indeed."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1xRjIhK33I

Noam Chomsky/talks at Google/working class education

Says Chomsky: "It is worth remembering that working class education was a very serious phenomenon. It goes way back. It goes back to the late 19th century here, early industrial revolution. If Irish blacksmiths could get enough money they would hire a boy to read to them - while he`s working. And reading meant what we now call classics: modern contemporary literature."

"There were young women from the farms called factory girls who were kind of compelled to get into the textile factories in eastern New England and they had their own publications. You read them, they bitterly condemn the fact that the industrial system was depriving them of their culture; of their dignity; their independence. You`re selling yourself, not what you produce. You know it`s quite different. "

"And part of it was an attack on the culture - same in England. And there was a massive study, an interesting study, by a guy named Jonathan Rose of the reading habits of the English working class and it turns out his own conclusion is that they were better educated than the aristocrats.... They may not have gone to school and certainly didn`t go to Oxford but ... the rising working class had its own institutions of education and culture which was significant. A lot of that has been destroyed."

"In all kinds of ways Google doesn`t help..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C-zWrhFqpM


See The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes

Young Scot Enterprise paid £1million to IT company

[Mark Howarth, Scottish Daily Mail]

"A publicly funded charity has paid more than £1million to a company linked to one of its directors."

"Young Scot Enterprise (YSE) is at the forefront of promoting Scottish Government youth policy and is heavily reliant on taxpayers` cash."

"But the Scottish Daily Mail can reveal that for the past ten years it has been handing money to Edinburgh-based IT company Storm ID."

"Since 2007, the charity has paid the firm £1,142,370 for `website and media services`."

"Businessman Simon Wall is on the boards of the charity and firm - and owns a third of the shares in Storm ID..."

"YSE is `the national youth information and citizenship charity` aiming to offer those aged 11 to 26 `information, ideas and incentives to help them become confident, informed and active citizens`..."

"Eben Wilson, director of economic policy think-tank the centre for Democratic Prosperity said: `Where charities are funded by the taxpayer, we need a review of the rules on how contracts are tendered, awarded and paid for, and weaknesses addressed`."

"`Within the third sector, there is also a problem with sock-puppetry, where charities end up being paid by government to, in effect, echo their master`s voice`..."

Changing the world with ClassDojo

ClassDojo

 

Ben Williams and Aliastair Rutherford raise a series of concerns about the globally popular classroom management app ClassDojo.

"Millions of parents will be familiar with the free mobile app, ClassDojo. It allows teachers to award or deduct points to children for their classroom behaviour, and has become a worldwide educational success story, with claims it is being used by over 3 million teachers and 35 million children from 180 countries globally."

"Despite its popularity, ClassDojo raises significant concerns many parents may not have considered. As our ongoing research shows, in 2016 its Silicon Valley team received over US$20 million to extend into a ‘school-wide’ platform, quickly making it into an indispensable tool for connecting schools with parents, enabling a constant flow of dojo points, classroom pictures, messages, videos and digital portfolios of children’s work to be sent from schools to homes."

"Meanwhile, teachers are involved in producing a huge database about children’s behaviour. It’s no longer just a cute app for promoting positive behaviour; it’s becoming more like a  social media site..."

"As a globally successful social media site for schools, ClassDojo is becoming as integral to the relationships between children, teachers and parents as mainstream social media is to the everyday lives of millions around the world. It is making teachers into data collectors and data entry clerks, encouraging children to see themselves in terms of their behavioural points, and inviting parents to become users of ClassDojo’s services. School leaders can now use ClassDojo data and local government authorities may also be able to access it in future, potentially making it into a key tool of whole-school management and performance measurement."

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture/2017/01/04/classdojo-poses-data-protection-concerns-for-parents/

Wearable technology

"Wearable devices like heart-rate monitors and virtual reality headsets are expected to become mainstream in the education space within four to five years, and schools should be thinking now about how to prepare to handle them."

"Ed Tech: Focus on K-12 reports network upgrades are a key first step, and while some districts have expanded bandwidth enough to support wearable technology in their efforts to increase digital device use, equipment will need upgrades in the years to come."

"Wearable technology brings the promise of data aggregation, but schools must consider student privacy in deciding how to collect and store data, and successful rollouts will require thorough planning, testing and training."

http://www.educationdive.com/news/now-is-the-time-to-consider-wearable-techs-possibilities-in-schools/433517/