沃達豐首席執行官尼克·傑弗里斯表示，在虛假的冠狀病毒陰謀論的刺激下，縱火犯正在阻止人們向親人告別。
請不要再燒基站。
最近幾周，英國和其他幾個歐洲國家的5G基站遭到了縱火襲擊，原因是科學上站不住腳的陰謀論在傳播，這些陰謀論將冠狀病毒的傳播與電信設備聯繫在一起。
沃達豐首席執行官尼克•傑弗里斯(Nick Jeffries)週二在領英(LinkedIn)上發帖稱，該公司位於英國的5G基站中，有20座遭到了縱火攻擊。伯明翰的南丁格爾國家醫療服務中心(NHS Nightingale)就使用了其中一座。南丁格爾是為治療新冠肺炎患者而建立的野戰醫院之一。
傑弗里斯說，縱火襲擊不僅破壞了國家基礎設施，還使孤立的病人無法與他們的親人保持聯繫，甚至阻止了那些即將死去的人最後告別。他懇求縱火者停下來想一想。“想象一下，如果是你的父母，你的爺爺奶奶在醫院裡，”他說。“想象一下，最後一次看不見或聽不見他們，全都是因為你相信了一個危險的謊言。”
5G能導致或傳播新冠肺炎的理論絕對不正確。科學家們表示，沒有證據表明5G會損害你的健康，這一理論也已被獨立事實核查組織Full fact推翻。
沃達豐(Vodafone)是英國四大運營商之一，它們都受到了攻擊的影響。例如，EE公司的一位發言人說，該公司已經遭遇了約22起攻擊，但並非全部成功，大約有60名工程師遭到了騷擾。他說，有人向一輛工程師的貨車扔了一塊磚頭，不過沒有造成傷害。
為了保護員工，EE鼓勵工程師們結對工作，並僱傭額外的安全人員來保護可能存在風險的網站。在過去的幾周裡，EE已經注意到了地理格局，在伊靈、伯明翰和利物浦都有集群。全國大約有3萬個移動站點，被多個網絡使用，同時有非常大的團隊努力來保證它們的安全。
襲擊發生的時間沒有規律可循，而且襲擊似乎沒有升級，但根據EE的說法，襲擊也沒有減速。約克郡哈德斯菲爾德(Huddersfield)警方表示，他們正在調查週二凌晨一場導致一座基站被燒燬的火災，其中包括來自三家不同網絡運營商的設備，以及應急服務機構使用的設備。
代表EE、沃達豐(Vodafone)、O2和Three的行業組織英國移動通信(Mobile UK)的政策和通信主管加雷斯•埃利奧特(Gareth Elliott)表示:“有關5G的理論正在傳播，它們沒有根據，也沒有可靠的科學理論作為基礎。”“移動運營商致力於讓英國保持聯繫，而不小心的談話可能會造成不可估量的損害。”對移動基礎設施的持續攻擊會危及生命，在這個具有挑戰性的時刻，英國的關鍵部門必須能夠集中全力抗擊這一流行病。”
英國政府也公開反對將冠狀病毒和5G連接起來的陰謀論的傳播。英國國民健康保險制度(NHS)的國家醫療主任斯蒂芬·波伊斯(Stephen Powys)將這一理論斥為“徹頭徹尾的垃圾”，而內閣大臣邁克爾·戈夫(Michael Gove)則稱其為“危險的無稽之談”。
Phone carriers beg people to stop setting fire to 5G masts, especially at hospitals
Vodafone CEO Nick Jeffries says arsonists, spurred by false coronavirus conspiracy theories, are preventing people saying goodbye to loved ones.
Thinking of setting a phone mast on fire? Please don't.
5G phone masts across the UK and several other European nations have been subject to arson attacks in recent weeks due to the circulation of scientifically unsound conspiracy theories linking the spread of coronavirus to telecoms equipment.
In a LinkedIn post on Tuesday, Vodafone CEO Nick Jeffries said that 20 of the company's UK-based 5G masts had been victims of arson attacks. One of those masts serves NHS Nightingale in Birmingham, one of the field hospitals set up to treat COVID-19 patients.
Not only are the arson attacks damaging national infrastructure, said Jeffries, they're also preventing isolated patients from keeping in touch with their loved ones, and even stopping those who are dying from saying a final goodbye. He pleaded with arsonists to stop and think.
"Imagine if it were your mum or dad, your gran or grandad in hospital," he said. "Imagine not being able to see or hear them one last time. All because you've swallowed a dangerous lie."
The theory that 5G can cause or spread COVID-19 is categorically not true. Scientists have said there is no evidence 5G can harm your health, and the theory has also been debunked by independent fact checker Full Fact.
Vodafone is one of the UK's big four carriers, all of which have been affected by the attacks. EE, for instance, has seen around 22 attacks -- not all of them successful -- and around 60 engineers had been victims of harassment, a company spokesman said. One person had thrown a brick at an engineer's van, he said, though without causing injury.
To protect its staff, EE encourages engineers to work in pairs and is hiring extra security to protect sites that might be at risk. Over the past few weeks, EE has noticed geographical patterns, with clusters in Ealing, Birmingham and Liverpool. With around 30,000 mobile sites in total across the country, many of which are used by multiple networks, it is very much a team effort to keep them safe.
No pattern has emerged on the timing of the attacks, and they don't seem to be escalating, but according to EE, they're also not slowing down. Police in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, said they were investigating a fire that destroyed a telecoms mast in the early hours of Tuesday morning, which included equipment from three different network operators, as well as kit used by the emergency services.
"Theories being spread about 5G are baseless and are not grounded in credible scientific theory," said Gareth Elliott, head of policy and communications for industry body Mobile UK, which represents EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three. "Mobile operators are dedicated to keeping the UK connected, and careless talk could cause untold damage. Continuing attacks on mobile infrastructure risks lives and at this challenging time the UK's critical sectors must be able to focus all their efforts fighting this pandemic."
The UK government has also spoken out against the circulation of the conspiracy theory linking coronavirus and 5G. NHS England's National Medical Director Stephen Powys dismissed the theory as "complete and utter rubbish," while Cabinet Minister Michael Gove described it as "dangerous nonsense."
真的難以想象縱火燒基站事件持續如此之久，且在當前新冠肺炎還未抑制的情況，醫院附近基站竟也難逃一劫，更是雪上加霜。不得不說，腦子是個好東西。正如英國內閣大臣邁克爾·戈夫(Michael Gove)所說“這是個危險的無稽之談”，希望5G能夠早日洗刷“冤屈”，也希望全球疫情能夠早日得到控制。
