Mobile Phones and Service Stations: Rumour, Risk and Precaution

Abstract

This paper considers the implications of precautionary restrictions against technologies, in the context of the potential for creating and sustaining rumours. It focuses on the restriction against mobile phone use at petrol stations, based on the rumour that a spark might cause an explosion. Rumours have been substantiated by precaution-ary usage warnings from mobile phone manufacturers, petrol station usage restrictions, and a general lack of technical understanding. Petrol station employees have themselves spread the rumour about alleged incidents, filling the information gap about the basis for the restriction.

“Have a Digital Highway but also have speed limits”: Exploring Public Resistance to Cell Tower Radiation in India

“…One of the respondents from TRAI was dismissive of such resistance movements and termed the demand for regulatory intervention to address health and safety issues as “dichotomous demand” – in the sense that they wanted both mobile connectivity and also no siting of CTs in the vicinity. Suggesting that such demands were therefore unreasonable and is akin to Burgess's denoting of the public as irrational actors (Burgess, 2007a).…”

“…He has been deeply critical of such public anxieties as they are deemed to be irrational since they focus on radiation emanating from cell towers, at the same time ignoring radiation risks from mobile gadgets. Public anxieties are sought to be explained by heightened media narratives which do not rely on scientific proof but information which amplify risks (Burgess, 2007b(Burgess, , 2007a. Claassen also suggests that media articles often lack scientific perspectives (Claassen et al, 2012).…”

Anthropogenic risk creation: understanding and addressing the challenges via a conceptual model

“…Consequently, this has meant that the opportunity to better invest that time and resources elsewhere was forfeited. Examples involving such overestimations include the use restrictions on cellphone use at UK gas stations due to unsubstantiated fears the phones would ignite gas fumes (Burgess, 2007) and, arguably, 12 the widespread preparations made across numerous countries in anticipation of widespread economic, social and technical disruptions that were expected to be caused by the "millennium bug" (MacGregor, 2003). By contrast, the underestimation of the risk has, on some occasions, prevented or attenuated the appetite to put sufficient risk manage approaches in place.…”