Smart Meter Dte Extorion

[slipstar059]

Cancer.org mentions them as a possible risk for for cancer (along with cell phones, and wifi signals). I wonder what it will do to wifi signals. If magnetic ballasts, put out high levels of interference a smart meter would presumably do the same.

[Kingdiamond]

how do you know that? how many leo's have busted into otherwise legal grows and still ruined lives? being legal only helps when you're in court, and just maybe. It certainly has not offered protection from arrests, search and seizures and even property forfeiture.

 

FTG!

How do I know this ?

 

By lack of reported incidents I guess 90% of the raids I read always are connected to illegal sales or a visit by LEO and the grower not following the guidelines nobody in my group of 30 or so growers have had as much as a door knock .

[trichcycler]

me too, hoping to never be part of the 10% who get flucked .

[slipstar059]

 

Committee Oversight

Clerk Phone Number Doug Simon - 517-373-8099

Location Room 519, House Office Building, Lansing, MI

Date Tuesday, 12/2/2014

Time 3:00 PM or after committees are given leave by the House to meet, whichever time is later.

Agenda Oversight concerns of citizens regarding the State of Michigan's policies on electric metering, including advanced/smart meters

 

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Chair Representative Tom McMillin

[trichcycler]

I have heard of power usage, utility company cooperation being used as evidence for a raids, arrests, property forfeitures- I can only imagine how much more efficient a digital interface will be. A very simple program will possibly flag certain algorithms associated with indoor growing operations. Very easily assessing the size and the location of the grow, possibly even the growing schedule to harvest, these programs could be instantly accessed by leo and only the perfect scenarios would be targeted first.

 

I know groups of growers who have never been targeted, some that have too. Some continue to break laws, some don't, some always have, some wont ever. I don't know one with a smart meter yet though, so I cant report the differences.

 

How many raids have happened at homes with smart meters? now that could be the clue?

[slipstar059]

I'm less worried about raids as I keep everything 100% legal, and pay for all power consumption. What I am worried about is the RF cycling every minute, sending out radiated waves, to the receiver. I know it's present in cellphone and wifi use, but that can be self limited, the smart meters cannot. Half my family has been lost to cancer, so I try to be proactive in limiting dangers around the house. If there's even a 10% chance the emissions are dangerous, I want to eliminate it from my life. The meters have also been linked to fires in Canada and over 100k are being replaced. In Oregon 70,000 are being replaced, and in NV a Fire Marshall that previously stated they were safe, is opening a new investigation into the meters.

[trichcycler]

I stay legal all the time too, just to make it cheaper for me in court maybe. Its not the arrest that scares me, it is indeed the raid on my home, my pets, my wife, my belongings.

[imiubu]

I was told by a friend to whom I trust implicitly in matters such as this to NEVER get a smart meter.

[Restorium2]

And the feds already had portable devices to detect the signature of grow equipment. Not that I know of it being ever used in court. When a smart meter is functioning properly it doesn't put out enough RW to hurt humans. Ironically, a digital ballast can put out a lot of RW when it's malfunctioning. The appliance in my home that puts out the most RW is our Dyson vacuum cleaner. 

[t-pain]

what device do you use to test for radio waves, resto?

 

i just picked up a kill-o-watt and have been testing things to see how much energy my microwave uses to display a clock (.2 watts)

[imiubu]

what device do you use to test for radio waves, resto?

 

i just picked up a kill-o-watt and have been testing things to see how much energy my microwave uses to display a clock (.2 watts)

 

I am so frugal I unplug mine between usage

[trichcycler]

an analog meter, the type many of us have currently, does not detect algorithms.  These are frequency signatures of every appliance and distinctive among them all. They will instantly discern an HID bulb/the ballast use to operate it by its distinguished signature, rather than showing that something used x power for x time.

 

Specific brands of appliances will show their own personal brand of algo to the instantly processed communication at the receiver end. Very detailed information will be at the fingertips of those authorized to tap the keyboard, or those capable of infiltrating it.

[trichcycler]

old article

 

"

Smart meters can help police bust indoor marijuana growing operations. It does so because the smart meters provide highly detailed energy use data, that could be used in real time surveillance of neighborhoods, communities, cities and eventually the nation's entire electrical grid.

 

In central Ohio, law enforcement officials file as many as 60 subpoenas each month for energy use records of people suspected in indoor marijuana growing operations. It seems that most of the residences with indoor pot growing operations are in quiet neighborhoods without much traffic.

 

 

HOW COPS USE SMART METER TECHNOLOGY IS INTERESTING

 

According to Drug Enforcement Agency, the subpena is only "one tool" used to catch illegal grow house operations. What typically happens is that police may receive a tip of suspicious activity and undercover officers might not find anything illegal during a routine surveillance of the suspect's residence. So then "utility consumption records" can be sought which could be one indicator police use to get 'probable cause' to go search the place.

 

Using smart grid for surveillance to catch indoor pot farmers is not new. We found references to this going back to 2005 see: "Never Get Busted" document "fishing for pot" and the Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog reported on "Texas warrantless surveillance program" in which Austin Energy provides police with "customer usage information" to find grow houses.

 

 

 

 

 

POT GROWERS GET "SMART" ALSO

 

 

In writing this article, I did some investigating and found some people who traffic in pot willing to talk with me about there smart energy concerns. They indicated there are many ways around that kind of smart meter surveillance and monitoring. The primary one, don't opt for smart meter technology, if you can. They cited the use of solar energy panels to feed back energy into the grid, gas generators and the tapping of nearby electrical utility lines illegally for power (smart grid makes that more and more difficult however). One fellow indicate the possibility of 'meter tampering or bypass', but I didn't really understand how that works, but thought I should mention it.

 

 

TRENDING NOW- SMALLER MARIJUANA GROW OPERATIONS

 

 

The growers say the trend now is "hydro" and "chronic" so called: "one hit wonders" - or the growing of high quality medical grade marijuana, through cross breeding and genetics. So marijuana grow operations are forming that are tending to be cultivating smaller crops that interestingly enough sell for more money. So it will be interesting to see how this will evolve over time. If marijuana was legalized the government could tax the making whoopee bunny muffin out it, like they do now for alcohol and cigarettes. But that is my personal opinion.

 

 

MANY DIFFERENT ENERGY SPIES

 

 

But law enforcement is only the beginning of how smart grid can be used to spy and commit what might be called: "soft forms of espionage".

 

Insurance companies for example could use the smart grid data as real time surveillance to determine if people are present in the home they are asked to insure as a primary residence. The press also could use smart meters to monitor and report on celebrities and politicians energy usage and meter data.

 

 

THE "DARK SIDE"

 

 

Everything has a "dark side" as Darth Vader would call it. So to smart meter technology. Criminals may want to see the data to determine the "point of least energy usage" which would give then the best time to come around the house to burglarize it maybe...or see what kind of high dollar appliances you might have to rip off! Creditors too could use that data to theoretically determine in behavior indicates credit worthiness for example. And I can think of a billion others, but you get my point.

 

 

The scariest report I saw was the fact that smart meter grids could include as many as 440 million customers meaning 440 million "new hackable points" by the end of 2015 (reported by Computerworld), according to Lockheed Martin General Manager of Energy and Cyber Services.

So besides privacy concerns for criminals - smart grid presents new vulnerability to the electrical grid itself.

 

In the near future we may see a time when energy will be regulated and more controlled ad so will your usage of that energy.

 

 

Welcome to George Orwell's 1984."

 

http://www.allvoices.com/contribute...-and-bust-indoor-marijuana-growing-operations

[trichcycler]

NO More Privacy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The American Dream

July 8, 2011

 

Rupert Murdoch

 

Have you heard about the new “smart meters” that are being installed in homes all across America? Under the guise of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions” and “reducing energy bills”, utility companies all over the United States are forcing tens of millions of American families to accept sophisticated surveillance devices in their homes. Currently, approximately 9 percentof all electric meters in the U.S. have been converted over to smart meters. It is being projected that by 2012, the number of smart meters in use will rise to 52 million, and the federal government is spending a lot of money to help get these installed everywhere. Eventually the goal is to have these smart meters in all of our homes and if that ever happened there would essentially be no more privacy. Once installed, a smart meter monitors your home every single minute of every single day and it transmits very sophisticated data about your personal behavior back to the utility company.

 

So can’t we just tell the utility companies that we don’t want these stupid things?

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, in many areas of the country you can’t. For example, one outraged resident of California contacted the utility company and was told that if he did not consent to taking a smart meter he would receive no service.

 

So unless you want to live “off the grid”, what are you going to do? Can any of us really survive without electricity these days?

 

The sad truth is that these things are being forced upon us.

 

It is happening in Europe too. The European Parliament has set a goal of having smart meters in the homes of 80 percent of all electricity consumers by the year 2020.

 

Sadly, as these smart meters have gone in there have been reports all over the country of electricity bills increasing dramatically. There have been mountains of complaints about these things and yet their use keeps spreading.

 

But of course the biggest issue with smart meters is how they will strip us of our privacy.

 

The concern is that the incredibly detailed data that these surveillance devices collect will be given or sold to a vast array of third parties.

 

For example, smart meters are already being used by police to bust marijuana growers.

 

It is also feared that insurance companies, credit agencies, lawyers, marketing firms and even criminals will be able to get their hands on this data as well.

 

A recent article posted on the website of the Electronic Frontier Foundationsummarized some of the concerns….

 

 

“Without strong protections, this information can and will be repurposed by interested parties. It’s not hard to imagine a divorce lawyer subpoenaing this information, an insurance company interpreting the data in a way that allows it to penalize customers, or criminals intercepting the information to plan a burglary. Marketing companies will also desperately want to access this data”

 

For law enforcement officials, these surveillance devices are a dream come true.According to the Columbus Dispatch, police in central Ohio have been filing at least 60 subpoenas every single month for the energy-use records of those that they suspect are growing pot in their homes.

 

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Well, it turns out that sometimes police are raiding homes that are using a lot of energy and they don’t find any marijuana at all. Instead, sometimes these raids reveal others kinds of activities….

 

 

Sometimes, high electricity use doesn’t lead investigators to drugs. A federal investigation in the Powell area turned into a surprise for detectives.

 

“We thought it was a major grow operation … but this guy had some kind of business involving computers,” Marotta said. “I don’t know how many computer servers we found in his home.”

 

So do you want police raiding your home if you start using a little bit too much electricity?

 

Jerry Day, an electronics and media expert from Burbank California, recently detailed many of the ways that smart meters act as surveillance deviceswhen they are installed in our homes….

 

 

1. They individually identify electrical devices inside the home and record when they are operated causing invasion of privacy.

 

2. They monitor household activity and occupancy in violation of rights and domestic security.

 

3. They transmit wireless signals which may be intercepted by unauthorized and unknown parties. Those signals can be used to monitor behavior and occupancy and they can be used by criminals to aid criminal activity against the occupants.

 

4. Data about occupant’s daily habits and activities are collected, recorded and stored in permanent databases which are accessed by parties not authorized or invited to know and share that private data.

 

5. Those with access to the smart meter databases can review a permanent history of household activities complete with calendar and time-of-day metrics to gain a highly invasive and detailed view of the lives of the occupants.

 

6. Those databases may be shared with, or fall into the hands of criminals, blackmailers, law enforcement, private hackers of wireless transmissions, power company employees, and other unidentified parties who may act against the interests of the occupants under metered surveillance.

 

7. “Smart Meters” are, by definition, surveillance devices which violate Federal and State wiretapping laws by recording and storing databases of private and personal activities and behaviors without the consent or knowledge of those people who are monitored.

 

8. It is possible for example, with analysis of certain “Smart Meter” data, for unauthorized and distant parties to determine medical conditions, sexual activities, physical locations of persons within the home, vacancy patterns and personal information and habits of the occupants.

 

Jerry Day has also produced a terrific YouTube video in which he explains many of these points more fully. If you live in an area where these insidious smart meters are going in, then please share this video with as many people living near you as you can….

 

 

 

The time to object to these smart meters is before they go in. Once they are in all of our homes it is going to be too late.

 

This is all part of the radical green agenda that is being forced down the throats of people all over the world.

 

Everything that we do has to be watched, monitored and tightly controlled for the “good of the environment”.

 

To the control freaks running things, that also means that the liberties and freedoms that we cherish so much must be greatly restricted.

 

If you don’t know about “Agenda 21“, you should learn about it. The UN has a plan for the future of this planet, and once you find out about this plan you probably are not going to like it very much. The entire globe is rapidly becoming one big prison grid as the elite implement their vision of the future.

 

If you want to get a really good idea of what they are planning, just watch this video.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kaHdtl8KAGg?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[trichcycler]

 

Police seek utility data for homes of marijuana-growing suspects

 

 

 

 

 

Police seek utility data for homes of marijuana-growing suspects -

At least 60 subpoenas are filed each month across the state seeking customers' energy-use records from American Electric Power and other utilities.

 

The goal: to root out indoor marijuana-growing operations.

 

Most of the subpoenas AEP receives are filed in central Ohio because of the region's high population density and large number of customers, said Terri Flora, AEP spokeswoman.

 

The utility, while sensitive to its customers' expectation of privacy, is compelled by law to provide information about electricity use, Flora said. "We're obligated when we get these requests. There's not an option to say no."

 

Gahanna detectives staking out two homes since last year recently requested "billing detail for these addresses, including the subscriber information ... to better identify the participants in this illegal activity," according to a letter accompanying the subpoena. The cases are still open, according to police.

 

"It's pretty effective," said Lt. Tom Basso, who oversees investigations for Gahanna.

 

"Most of our grows (houses) are usually in quiet neighborhoods where t here's not a whole lot of traffic," he said. Basements, bedrooms and attics often are used.

 

The investigative subpoena is one tool among many used to build criminal cases against suspected "grow house" operators, said Anthony Marotta, assistant special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's operations in Ohio. The houses are found in the inner cities, townships and suburbs, he said.

 

When police get a tip related to suspicious activity in a home, they might send undercover officers to stake it out. But if nothing illegal is observed, they might seek power-use records.

 

"How else can I get an indicator to get probable cause if I can't see anything?" said Marotta.

 

If a growing operation is inside, the utility records reveal far higher energy use than at comparable homes because of the high-wattage bulbs needed for growing.

 

"It will generally be three to five times more than anyone else," Marotta said. "These grow lights draw a tremendous amount of wattage. You have to mimic the sun. You can suntan under these things."

 

The subpoena typically seeks records for the address under investigation and a few nearby homes for comparison. Police cannot survey large areas.

 

Columbus also supplies water-use data when asked, said Laura Young-Mohr, utilities spokeswoman. But high water use can have a variety of causes.

 

"You could have a leaky toilet," she said.

 

Police don't always need a subpoena to bolster a case. A tip from the owner of a 4,000-square-foot home in the Dublin school district helped police uncover a massive growing operation by his tenant.

 

In Worthington last summer, neighbors tipped police to a woman who was openly growing marijuana.

 

"She's got light bulbs shining on her 12-inch plants," recalled Lt. Mike Dougherty. "If you're going to grow them, why put them in front of the window where people can see them?

 

Sometimes, high electricity use doesn't lead investigators to drugs. A federal investigation in the Powell area turned into a surprise for detectives.

 

"We thought it was a major grow operation ... but this guy had some kind of business involving computers," Marotta said. "I don't know how many computer servers we found in his home."

[trichcycler]

Is Your Smart Meter Spying On You?

 

Posted on June 25, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

 

 

 

 

Preface: The original intent of smart meters may been good … conserve energy by setting up a “smart grid” to maximize the efficiency of energy distribution. But there are questions about potential health effects from smart meters. And – in this era of pervasive spying – it’s important to know where the threats to our privacy are coming from.

 

Burglars, Hackers and the Government All Want to See Your Smart Meter Data

 

NBC News reports:

 

 

Researchers examining the privacy implications of smart-meter technology found that one German provider’s devices contained vulnerabilities that allowed them to snoop on unencrypted data to determine whether or not the homeowners were home.

 

After signing up with the German smart-meter firm Discovergy, the researchers detected that the company’s devices transmitted unencrypted data from the home devices back to the company’s servers over an insecure link. The researchers, Dario Carluccio and Stephan Brinkhaus, intercepted the supposedly confidential and sensitive information, and, based on the fingerprint of power usage, were able to tell not only whether or not the homeowners were home, away or even sleeping, but also what movie they were watching on TV.

 

Network World points out:

 

 

At the last Chaos Communication Congress in Germany, researchers presented “Smart Hacking For Privacy” and demonstrated that detailed smart meter data can show what TV shows you watch, scan for copyright-protected DVD movies you watch, and other privacy intrusive details.

 

Network World also notes:

 

 

Smart meters provide highly detailed energy-use data. The info can be used by police to find and to bust indoor pot farms, by insurance companies to determine health care premiums, and by criminals to determine if you own high-dollar appliances and when is the best time to steal them. And that’s only the tip of the potential privacy invasion iceberg.

 

***

 

In central Ohio, police file at least 60 subpoenas each month for energy-use records of people suspected in indoor marijuana growing operations, reported the Columbus Dispatch. Most of the houses with indoor pot growing operations are reportedly in quiet neighborhoods without much traffic. DEA agent Anthony Marotta said the subpoena is only one tool used to catch “grow house” operators. Police get a tip about suspicious activity, but if undercover officers don’t discover anything illegal during a stake out, then utility consumption records can be sought. “How else can I get an indicator to get probable cause if I can’t see anything?” Marotta said to reporter Dean Narciso.

 

***

 

The U.S. Department of Energy warned [PDF] that smart grid technology can provide a highly detailed household profile of energy consumption and said policies are needed to restrict utilities from sharing consumer usage data with third parties. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) outlined Potential Privacy Impacts that Arise from the Collection and Use of Smart Grid Data [PDF].

 

From reading it, a person might wonder if smart meters will be real-time surveillance spies. It suggests that insurance companies might use the smart meter data to determine health care premiums, such as if there is high usage at night which would indicate sleep behavior problems. Besides looking to bust pot farmers, law enforcement might use the data as “real-time surveillance to determine if residents are present and current activities inside the home.” The press might wish to see the smart meter data of celebrities. Criminals may want to see the data to determine the best time for a burglary and what high dollar appliances you might have to steal. Marketers might want the data for profiling and targeting advertisements. Creditors might want the data to determine if behavior indicates creditworthiness.

 

***

 

Lockheed Martin general manager of Energy and Cyber Services said the smart grid could include as many as 440 million new hackable points by the end of 2015, reported Computerworld.

 

The New York Times writes:

 

 

Writing in Friday’s issue of the journal Science, the environmental scientist Jan Beyea foresees a world in which epidemiologists could harvest data on how people live from day to day — their use of electric blankets or microwave ovens, for example — and correlate such activities with the likelihood of developing certain health conditions. The meter data could serve as a check on information obtained from the questionnaires that are used in such studies, he said.

 

With data from thousands or millions of smart meters, researchers could design tools to measure how many times a day a refrigerator door was opened, relevant to dietary and obesity research, or sleep patterns, relevant to a wide range of health research, he wrote.

 

National Geographic notes:

 

 

”It’s not hard to imagine a divorce lawyer subpoenaing this information, an insurance company interpreting the data in a way that allows it to penalize customers, or criminals intercepting the information to plan a burglary,” the private nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation noted in a blog post about smart meters.

 

***

 

The European Union’s data protection watchdog warned earlier this year that smart meters, while bringing significant potential benefits, also could be used track whether families “are away on holiday or at work, if someone uses a specific medical device or a baby-monitor, how they like to spend their free time and so on.” The European Data Protection Supervisor urged that member states provide the public with more information on how the data is being handled.

 

***

 

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) … was involved in producing a comprehensive report on privacy with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that summarizes, often in chilling detail, the many ways in which privacy breaches could occur on the smart grid, and recommends best practices for preventing those breaches. “As Smart Grid implementations collect more granular, detailed, and potentially personal information, this information may reveal business activities, manufacturing procedures, and personal activities in a given location,” the NIST report said.

 

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

 

 

Critics of “smart meters” have often warned that the advanced electricity and gas meters can invade privacy by revealing when someone is and isn’t home.

 

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, they have reason to worry.

 

The civil rights group on Wednesday reported that California’s three big, investor-owned utilities had disclosed individual account information on thousands of their customers last year, usually to government agencies armed with subpoenas.

 

Last year, the United States Congressional Research Service addressed some of the issues involved:

 

 

Data recorded by smart meters must be highly detailed, and, consequently, it may show what individual appliances a consumer is using. The data must also be transmitted to electric utilities—and possibly to third parties outside of the smart grid—subjecting it to potential interception or theft as it travels over communications networks and is stored in a variety of physical locations.

 

These characteristics of smart meter data present privacy and security concerns that are likely to become more prevalent as government-backed initiatives expand deployment of the meters to millions of homes across the country. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress appropriated funds for the implementation of the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) program administered by the Department of Energy. This program now permits the federal government to reimburse up to 50% of eligible smart grid investments, which include the cost to electric utilities of buying and installing smart meters. In its annual report on smart meter deployment, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cited statistics showing that the SGIG program has helped fund the deployment of about 7.2 million meters as of September 2011.15 At completion, the program will have partially funded the installation of 15.5 million meters. By 2015, the Institute for Electric Efficiency expects that a total of 65 million smart meters will be in operation throughout the United States.

 

The CRS discussed some of the laws which may govern smart meter data:

 

 

If smart meter data and transmissions fall outside of the protection of the Fourth Amendment, they may still be protected from unauthorized disclosure or access under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). These statutes, however, would appear to permit law enforcement to access smart meter data for investigative purposes under procedures provided in the SCA, ECPA, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), subject to certain conditions. Additionally, an electric utility’s privacy and security practices with regard to consumer data may be subject to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently focused its consumer protection enforcement on entities that violate their privacy policies or fail to protect data from unauthorized access. This authority could apply to electric utilities in possession of smart meter data, provided that the FTC has statutory jurisdiction over them. General federal privacy safeguards provided under the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (FPA) protect smart meter data maintained by federal agencies, including data held by federally owned electric utilities.

 

The CRS report notes the incompleteness of the laws applying to smart meters. And – given that the FISA court has recently been shown to rubber-stamp mass surveillance on millions of Americans without any protection – we’re not sure that the current legal protections regarding smart meter data are worth the paper they’re written on.

 

England is just as bad. As the Telegraph writes:

 

 

 

The devices, which the government plans to install in every home by 2020, will also tell energy firms what sort of appliances are being used, allowing companies to target customers who do not reduce their energy consumption.

 

 

 

Privacy campaigners have expressed horror at the proposals, which come as two million homes have ‘spy’ devices fitted to their rubbish bins by councils who record how much residents are recycling.

 

 

***

 

 

In its impact assessment, however, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says there “is theoretically scope… for using the smart metering communications infrastructure to enable a variety of other services, such as monitoring of vulnerable householders by health authorities or social services departments.”

 

It adds: “Information from smart meters could also make it possible for a supplier to determine when electricity or gas was being used in a property and, to a degree, the types of technology that were being used within the property. This could be used to target energy efficiency advice and offers of measures, social programmes etc to householders.”

 

Doretta Cocks, founder of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, said: “This is Orwellian. We’re already under surveillance for what we put outside the home in bins and now we could be watched for what we’re doing inside as well.

 

***

 

Guy Herbert, general secretary of NO2ID, said: “Information from smart meters might be useful to energy providers and perhaps even their customers, but there’s no reason for any public authority to have access to it – unless they’ve a warrant to do so.

 

“This document is a prime example of government efforts to shoehorn data sharing and feature creep into every new policy.

 

***

 

The DECC document adds households could even have their power to some appliances turned off remotely to help the national grid if there is too much demand.

 

***

 

Consumer Focus, the watchdog, has also expressed concern about the privacy implications of the meters, saying consumers are “at risk of unfair, excessive, inequitable and inefficient charging” because energy companies could use the new data to introduce more complex tariffs to maximise profits at peak times.

 

And the Age reports that smart meter data from Australian homeowners is shared with random companies:

 

 

Detailed information about electricity customers’ power usage, which gives insights into when a house is occupied, is being shared with third parties including mail houses, debt collectors, data processing analysts and government agencies.

 

Customers with smart meters who sign up for Origin Energy’s online portal must consent to their data being shared with a string of third parties. The data is stored in Australia but shared with US company Tendril, which is described by Origin as a smart energy technology provider.

 

Australia’s privacy watchdog said the technology could threaten people’s privacy. ”We are starting to see people voicing concern about the level of data that these meters can collect,” federal Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim said.

 

***

 

Mr Pilgrim said electricity companies had a legal responsibility to delete or ”de-identify” personal information that was no longer needed. However, an Origin spokesman said the company kept former customers’ data for retrospective queries and ”tax and compliance purposes”.

 

The state government aims to install smart meters – which log electricity use every half-hour – in all Victorian homes by the end of next year.

 

***

 

Customer information can only be accessed by staff involved in billing. He said the electricity retailer only shared information with third parties when they had a ”legitimate business need to do so in order to meet our service obligations to our customers”.

 

In the ultimate irony, one of the biggest proponents of smart meters – Northern California’s main utility, Pacific Gas & Electric – was busted in April for spying on anti-smart meter groups:

 

 

On Thursday 4th April 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a settlement in its investigation into Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for spying on anti-Smart Meter groups. PG&E will be required to pay $390,000 to the state’s General Fund.

 

This infiltration by PG&E was part of an on-going surveillance program conducted by PG&E and Edelman, a public relations firm PG&E hired in January of 2010 in response to escalating Smart Meter complaints and problems.

 

As part of this program, the director of the PG&E Smart Meter program, William “Ralph” Devereaux, other PG&E employees and third parties spied on groups with the knowledge of senior PG&E staff. PG&E employees and senior management exchanged emails insulting and demeaning the members of the anti-SmartMeter groups. For example, these PG&E customers were referred to “insurgents.”

 

PG&E coordinated moving an entire Smart Meter deployment yard to derail a non-violent protest and sent an employee to surreptitiously observe and report on the reactions of the protestors, who also transmitted pictures of them to PG&E. This “spy” expressed his pleasure in observing and taking photos of anti-SmartMeter activists.

 

Note: Several utilities – including Pacific Gas & Electric – allow you to opt out of the smart meter program. If you insist, they will remove the smart meter from your home.

 

 

that's enough for me to avoid the use of a smart meter on my home. true or not, I'll err on the side of privacy for growers

[trichcycler]

but they already are according to marijuana forums worldwide. may be a mass paranoia experiment, like weather controlling stuff added to jet fuel, or fluoride being used as fertilizer and antidepressants ?

[Wild Bill]

Fine, be paranoid. Don't worry about reality. Patients and caregivers should not worry about this issue.

Amen! If you're growing legally what's the problem? I've gotten letters from DTE, throw them away and forget all about them.

 

No one has ever asked why the usage is so high but if they did I would normally just tell them to F off it's none of their business!

 

If I was in a more kindly mood I might tell them it's my security lights or my iron lung.

 

Does anyone really believe they're going to launch a police investigation because you use more electricity than the folks next door?

 

If you do maybe you should cut back on the Sativa's and go with something more mellow.

[+Malamute]

I would much rather deal with a smart meter outside than a meter reader outside.  The smart meter doesn't call in 'suspicious activity' reports or "marijuana smell" reports. ;-)

 

There are issues, but I have more concern over the human arsehole element that would travel through my yard every month. :-)

[mibrains]

There is no difference between a smart meter and a regular meter in detectability of increased energy use. The usage records come from the utility company and are the same regardless of automated or manual reading.

 

unfortunately thats totally untrue zap..

 

be cautious when stating this as fact.

 

the smart meters can bill according to hours.. they track the information so the utility can gain the highest possible rate per use data.

 

they track how much and at what time you use electricity.

 

a dumb meter does not... it only records how much you have used in a set amount of time..

 

smart meters are dumb.

 

i now know i was wrong when i wanted one.

 

i know better now.

 

>>DANGER WILL ROBINSON<<

[jointedone]

Just yell out the door "RELEASE THE HOUNDS!"    HEH HEH,EXCELLENT.Our meter is a stupid one because it is outside,so is the gas meter.

[+Malamute]

UR correct zap.

 

Usage is usage and they have your stats regardless.

[jointedone]

DAMMIT. I wanted to release the hounds...............................And we only got that neighbors usage letter compared to ours once. Next time I'll ask the guy before I release the hounds on him.......MAYBE

[pic book]

At first we felt shock, outrage and fear at Snowden's release and it's implications for any "on-site reporting device".  At least we did at first.  But now we are frogs being boiled.  No longer shockable?

Edited December 1, 2014 by pic book

[Willy]

DAMMIT. I wanted to release the hounds...............................And we only got that neighbors usage letter compared to ours once. Next time I'll ask the guy before I release the hounds on him.......MAYBE

Mine will not get out of the car, he uses binoculars to read the meter, from a "safe" distance