From <a
  href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/j5n3pb/your-smart-elec
  tricity-meter-can-easily-spy-on-you-court-ruling-warns">Your Smart
  Electricity Meter Can Easily Spy On You, Court Ruling Warns -
  Motherboard</a>:

    Consumers already face a laundry list of daily privacy issues
    ranging from Facebook's failure to police how user data is abused,
    to ISPs that routinely track your every online movement down to the
    millisecond.

    But another, less talked about privacy problem has slowly been
    gaining steam: the modern, electrical utility smart meter.

    Modern electricity usage meters provide innumerable benefits to
    utility companies, including a variety of remote access and
    monitoring tools to better manage the power grid. They also
    dramatically reduce the cost of technician visits for on-location
    meter readings.

    The benefits to consumers have been less impressive, however. Some
    models have been found to interfere with some home routers, and,
    like so many internet-connected devices, other variants are easily
    hacked.

  I remember when my utility in Michigan wore me down and I let them
  install the one for my house. The reported benefits, specifically the
  cost saving reflected in the fact that a meter reader was no longer
  dispatched to my house every month, never materialized.

  I never considered the privacy implications. I should have.

    Back in Illinois, the court warned that the entire fight could have
    been avoided if the city-owned utility had simply provided users
    with the option of using a traditional meter instead of forcing the
    upgrade. They also could have provided consumers the ability to opt
    out of data collection.

    "Naperville could have avoided this controversy-and may still avoid
    future uncertainty-by giving its residents a genuine opportunity to
    consent to the installation of smart meters, as many other utilities
    have," the court said.

    As the country debates new privacy rules in the wake of endless
    hacking scandals and rampant social media and broadband ISP data
    collection, it's important not to forget about the lowly electrical
    meter. And as the internet of broken things often makes clear,
    sometimes the "dumber" technical solution is the smarter bet when it
    comes to privacy and security.

  Also on:

  [1]Twitter
    __________________________________________________________________

  My original entry is here: [2]Is Your Smart Meter Spying on You? Yes..
  It posted Sat, 25 Aug 2018 05:27:05 +0000.
  Filed under: privacy, tech,

References

  1. https://twitter.com/TokyoGringo/status/1033225056854437888
  2. https://www.prjorgensen.com/?p=1868