Late last year, James Walbert went to court, to stop his former business associate from blasting him with mind-altering electromagnetic radiation. Walbert told the Sedgwick County, Kansas panel that Jeremiah Redford threatened him with "jolts of radiation" after a disagreement over a business deal. Later, Walbert, said, he began feeling electric shock sensations, hearing electronically generated tones, and getting popping and ringing sounds in his ears. On December 30th, the court decided in Walbert's favor, and issued a first-of-its-kind order of protection, banning Redford from using "electronic means" to further harass Walbert. No, seriously.

I recently took part in a BBC Radio 4 program, which took a light-hearted look into the "the real Manchurian Candidate" - and examined whether there is any truth in stories of mind control. It gave me a chance to talk about exotic non-lethal weapon concepts like the so-called telepathic raygun, the system which beams sound directly into your skull, and the "voice of god" talking fireball. Most of these projects are just lab experiments, or examples of Powerpoint engineering. But in some legal, policy, and business circles, electromagnetic brain assaults are being taken seriously.

Walbert's cause is supported by Jim Guest, a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He's working on proposed legislation to addresses electronic harassment, including a bill against the forced implantation of RFID chips. The U.N. is also now taking the possibility of electromagnetic terrorism against people seriously. And for the first time this year's European Symposium on Non-lethal Weapons included a session on the social implications of non-lethal weapons, with specific reference to "privacy-invasive remote interrogation and behavioral influence applications." Those who believe they are being targeted are getting a bit of official recognition.

For some, this opens up a new business opportunity. There are already quite a few companies out there offering "Technical Surveillance Counter Measures," or sweeps to determine if you are the victim of electronic harassment. As well detecting the usual bugging devices, they can check if you are being covertly bombarded by microwaves which may be the cause of "headache, eye irritation, dizziness, nausea, skin rash, facial swelling, weakness, fatigue, pain in joints and/or muscles, buzzing/ringing in ears."

Much of this trade may come from people with symptoms caused by something less exotic than high-tech military hardware. But companies will no doubt be willing to sell them expensive protection measures, anyway. And as awareness of these developing technology projects increases, we are likely to be hearing a lot more about "electronic harassment," "gang stalking" and the like over the next few years.

And there is also likely to be what folklorists call "Ostension," or acting out. Now that there are so many websites explaining how easy it is to harass people by zapping them with a modified microwave oven, sooner or later someone is bound to try it.