John C. Dvorak
Writing about tech since 1978. Podcaster. Producer.
Sep 26 2018
As many of you know, I was unceremoniously fired from PC Magazine on Sept. 20th, 2018 after over 30 years of service. I just figured it was the new people coming in and I was an unneeded throwback to the old regime.
This sort of thing happens a lot. Then one of the No Agenda producers noticed a recent column of mine was pulled from the magazine and redirected to someone else’s column about the same subject. It also went missing from the index of Dvorak columns. If you did a google search for the column it showed up but clicking on the Google link resulted in a re-direction to the other column.
The difference was my column was interpreted as critical of 5G. The replacement (and an additional column that came later), was more of a cheer-leading column.
In fact, my column was more reporting than opinion as I was reflecting on all the bad press 5G was getting from every corner. My conclusion was that, unless this stopped, 5G would never get off the ground.
I never once considered that expunging my column then firing me would be part of this process. I’ve asked the editors about this and got no replies.
This is a cautionary tale. Anyone writing for any publisher in today’s commercial market, where the managed advertorial and native ad seems to be the only way to make money, needs to be cautious.
More importantly today’s readers need to be a little more than cautious when believing anything. Native advertising is a most insidious concept and should be rejected by every publisher. Instead it is welcomed by the broadcasting networks and most of the major newspapers including the New York Times. Are the writers saying nice things or are they paid to say nice things?
Whatever the case, the independent voice cannot exist in this corrupt milieu and be truly independent. This is why I was happy to help develop the value-for-value model employed at the No Agenda podcast where I’ve been working with Adam Curry for over a decade. There are no advertisers, period.
I do not want to brag about being a visionary and say that I saw this coming 10 years ago, but I did. Independent opinions and viewpoints as well as unhindered research can only be done with a direct payment method from the customer (the reader).
Advertising, advertisers, corporate sponsors cannot abide by “opinions” mucking up their strategies.
Keep that in mind when you choose your information sources. — jcd
Addendum — the original 5G column is still up in India! Click here.
https://medium.com/@dvorak/5g-got-me-fired-ce407e584c4a
The Problem With 5G
Photo caption: If you read the barrage of scary literature about 5G mobile phone technology, specifically the use of millimeter wave frequencies to transmit data, you must conclude that it is a bad bet.
I’m not saying this because the technology does not work. It’s a bad bet because so little is known about the effects of millimeter waves (30GHz-300GHz). While these frequencies only permeate a small fraction of the human epidermis (the skin), the effect on the cornea, in particular, needs serious research.
Because the industry is too cheap to study the health effects of the technology itself, it lets this sort of product out the door despite the fact that it has already been weaponized by the military. These frequencies are so poor at travelling long distances, they need a transmitter on nearly every telephone pole and light pole to make 5G work.
5G is already getting some bad publicity, which could result in everything from bans on the technology to equipment destruction by vigilantes.
Of course, when you read deeper into what the chip and telecom companies are trying to do, you quickly discover that many systems calling themselves 5G are currently 4G mods using 5G as a marketing tool. Let’s ignore that scam and stay focused on millimeter waves.
As usual, the mostly arrogant (or naïve) technology industry is caught flat-footed at the negative reaction. It always figures that the stupid public will buy into anything new and jazzy if it makes their handheld phone seem a little faster, and even pay more for the privilege of the upgrade.
One of the ways the industry has made this all work in the past is by quick implementation followed by a “Hey look it works! Nobody was killed” approach. That cannot happen with true 5G, which needs all these mini-towers all over the place. That leaves plenty more time for the public to get a clue and be freaked out.
When you do a search for “5G is Safe” on Google and Bing, you get a number of negative stories and a laundry list of why some people believe it’s unsafe. Companies may as well begin to market a 5G mobile phone with a skull and crossbones on it.
If this bad PR is somehow reversed and 5G takes over the market, I will be shocked. The way it is going does not bode well for any of it.
