Transcript 3 - Michigan Smart Meter Education Network

Threat to Privacy
A presentation on how ‘smart’
meters threaten both our privacy
and our freedom to lead our lives
as we choose.
by David Sheldon
Why is Privacy Important?
• The freedom to lead our lives depends on our
being able to establish areas of our lives that are
not monitored and controlled by others.
• If our employer can pry into all our daily living
habits, it may turn out that we have to conform to
the employer’s dictates in order to hold on to our
jobs.
• If an insurance company can pry into all our daily
living habits, it may turn out that we are denied
insurance unless we live according to its dictates.
• If our government can pry into all our daily living
habits, it may turn out that every aspect of our
personal lives can be regulated and controlled.
Privacy Assault – Phase One
• The installation of a ‘smart’ electric,
gas or water meter on your home
• All 3 types of meters reveal
information about your private life.
• The electric ‘smart meter’ reveals the
most and is also a kind of ‘gateway
drug’, leading to still further intrusion
when you are forced to buy ‘smart
appliances’.
Data Revealed - ‘Smart’ Meter Alone
• Once a ‘smart’ electrical meter is
installed on your home, even before
there are any smart appliances in the
home, much information about your
daily activities will be revealed to the
utility company – and to anyone who
can buy (or hack into) the data the
meter generates.
Each Appliance Has Unique ‘Signature’
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•
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Amount of current draw
Duration of current draw
Startup or ‘inrush’ current
Whether current drawn is in step with
applied voltage or lags behind (‘power
factor’)
• Whether there is a regular pattern of on
and off cycles.
One Minute Intervals With Appliance ID
Utility Can Change Recording Interval
• Most utilities now say electric usage will
be recorded separately for each hour.
These readings will be stored in meter’s
memory and may be transmitted less often
than hourly.
• The ‘smart’ meters are remotely
programmable.
• The utility can change the recording
interval times by remote control at ANY
time, with or without notice to homeowner.
Software to Automate Data
Extraction
• In California, utilities already have
permission to sell smart meter data to 3rd
party marketing companies.
• Software is already on the market that will
transform a raw data graph into usable
information about lifestyle, habits, kinds
of appliances being used, etc.
• A battle is already in progress about who
controls all this data.
Information Revealed by ‘Smart’ Meter - 1
• When does utility customer sleep?
• Is he/she getting enough hours of sleep?
• Is there more than one refrigerator in house?
Information Revealed by ‘Smart’ Meter - 2
• Is there more than one stove?
• Is there more than one washing machine?
• Is there more than one family living here?
Who Would Want This Information?
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Insurance Companies
Employers
Marketing Companies
Police
Privacy Assault – Phase Two
• ‘Smart’ appliances will give the utility the
power to turn off individual appliances in
your home.
• The utilities are saying these programs
will be ‘voluntary’ (for now anyway)
• Soon you will not be able to buy any
appliance that is not ‘smart’.
Federal Privacy Guidelines NOT
Being Followed
• The National Institute for Standards & Technology formed a
working group to study and recommend appropriate
standards for protecting people’s privacy within a smart
grid system. This group, called The Smart Grid
Interoperability Panel–Cyber Security Working Group,
issued a report in August 2010.
• Choice and Consent. An organization should clearly, fully,
and accurately describe the choices available to
individuals, and to the extent practicable, obtain explicit
approval for the collection and use of their personal
information. Consumers should have the option to forgo
data collection and services that are not related to the core
services provided by the organization.
What To Do?
• Inform utility, by certified letter, that you
DO NOT CONSENT to the installation of a
‘smart’ meter on your home.
• Post a sign on or next to your meter to
inform the installer that you DO NOT
CONSENT to such installation
• Lock your meter housing if possible.
• If meter already installed, demand its
removal, and consider self help if your
demand for removal is not honored.
The End