"Smart" electricity meters will get you

Data mining techniques could determine the types of appliances that are used within the home because different devices have identifying power signatures.
http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/688-experts-say-smart-grids-a-privacy-concern.html


Utilities' smart meters save money, but erode privacy

By Andrew Maykuth

Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

The meters could record material so frequently that power flows could be interpreted like DNA to reveal unique electrical signatures of individual appliances. Some experts imagine an Orwellian future in a carbon-constrained world, where consumers are cited for excessive electricity use, or divorce lawyers comb through meter records and ask: Who used the hot tub while the spouse was away?

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/busi...art_meters_save_money__but_erode_privacy.html


One of the more interesting items that I saw on my morning trawl round the wires was a case where monitoring of energy usage is used to gather evidence against suspected marijuana growers. (How is it that marijuana growers keep popping up in my 'analog' blog I ask myself?) It seems that not only have such growers adopted all manner of high tech paraphernalia themselves; but US and Canadian law enforcement agencies have resorted to some sneaky, technology-centric methods of catching them.

The case in question involved growers in Alberta, Canada who were caught by police using a digital ammeter to glean evidence about the amount of electricity within their home. Though the data did indeed identify a 300+ plant operation, the judge dismissed the ammeter as a source of evidence for reasons of invasion of privacy – the police hadn't obtained the necessary search warrant to use it. Ammeters have apparently proven very successful at highlighting suspect electricity consumption patterns and therefore pinpointing grower operations. Placed on a power box off the property, they don't involve trespass, but used without the appropriate warrants, the data gathered is deemed a violation of the homeowner's privacy.
http://www.analog-europe.com/blogs/219401485

Responses for “Smart meters raise privacy concerns”

1.
markadamsjdmba says:
November 9, 2009 at 8:42 am

Irene, you are right on point here. I was informed by a power company employee that the new meters give the power company much more information about usage than the old meters do and that the FBI and DEA come to speak to the power company’s employees on a regular basis to tell them what to look for and report.

He said that an increase in electric usage resulting from installing a hot tub or pool would definitely be reported to the Feds and investigated. After all, if you use more energy, you might be a terrorist or drug dealer and you are certainly contributing to global warming…

http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/08/smart-meters-raise-privacy-concerns/

so are these already being used across america?
cuz if they are im fucked

lol this would be bad if implemented for each and every single indoor grower in the states.
We would all be fucked if they were put in place yet.

Who is using these though and how long will it take our power companies to convert? How long will it take for the grower's market to come up with profitable yet effective solutions to mask or cloak ballasts for this monitoring?

Soon, it will be implemented for every household in the U.S. Most of California already has them and have them in use. And, you cannot opt out. It's not possible to mask or cloak anything connected to these units. No matter how you slice it, these meters cannot be fooled, at least not for now. Keep in mind that these units can also monitor energy as it leaves the supply "the pole". So supply must equal demand else someone is stealing the energy. The units also have a sensitive resolution "less than one second", meaning digital databases can be built that KNOW whats being/been turned on, with an accurate record of usage. LEDs will not help.....Power is power, no matter how it's used, it's recorded. Like it or not, it's coming your way soon.

Big Brother is a mother fucker....
Welcome to the brave new world....

Mrgrowem said:

Soon, it will be implemented for every household in the U.S. Most of California already has them and have them in use. And, you cannot opt out. It's not possible to mask or cloak anything connected to these units. No matter how you slice it, these meters cannot be fooled, at least not for now. Keep in mind that these units can also monitor energy as it leaves the supply "the pole". So supply must equal demand else someone is stealing the energy. The units also have a sensitive resolution "less than one second", meaning digital databases can be built that KNOW whats being/been turned on, with an accurate record of usage. LEDs will not help.....Power is power, no matter how it's used, it's recorded. Like it or not, it's coming your way soon.

Click to expand...

makes me want to open up a solarpanel retailer....
alot of demand for 'closed circit power solutions',

could even combinine a gen/panels.

*edit

theres this company that makes a whole-house powerfactor correction unit, (whats essentialy a giant capacitor) and it re-combs the frequincy the electricity flows at......so maybe u can hide the devices behind the device? not hiding usage, just the 'power signature', i thought that was a star trek phrase..... scotttttyy i need more power!

My reading, admittedly by a non engineer type, leads me to conclude that this info will be fed into the power company's computer in real time.

I would think it would be fairly simple for LEO to create a monitoring program that even if you could filter the appliance signature that the constant load signature (18/6 or 12/12 of x number of watts on a daily basis) would be pretty easy to flag for follow-up and might even convince a judge it is probable cause for a warrant.

There seems no doubt that the meters are going to become compulsory and unless the ACLU or someone similar can write some tough safeguards into the law it will be very easy for LEO.

If someone can invent a device to foil this info without bypassing the meter they will make a mega fortune.

Either way IMHO I think it is an issue that we should be interested in and should bring to the attention of NORML and the Hydro industry and maybe even get a bit active about.

The big growers can always set up in an industrial area, it is the hobbyist and med user that will become very vulnerable.

It logically follows that this will be a big boost for the big boys and organized crime and once again our medicines will be controlled by thugs who put money over safe and effective products.

I grow vegetables for my family under my indoor lights. What's wrong with that?

Grimr3efer said:

I grow vegetables for my family under my indoor lights. What's wrong with that?

Click to expand...

when u have an assault rifle in ur face, 13 pigs in ur house, and vegtables under your 1k you might have a good dang lawsuit.

I'm no expert with digital ballasts, but I've seen that some of them "soft start".. will this help at all in masking the electricity usage? I mean I know eventually it will be at full power but it at least won't be a spike in the usage you know.

I knew this was coming eventually but damn. It sucks.

These are out in the UK already, They're not mandatory yet.. British Gas are offering us them if we want them to 'be smart with energy' I personally only use 1 400w dual spec HPS. eventually when these become mandatory whats the minimum that can blend in? 250 400 600? or none..

I've had one installed for a few months now... I run 3k+, and haven't had any problems.

Shit, I'm usually a month behind on electricity even. Haven't been bothered about it.

You gotta understand, as time goes on, there seems to be less and less innovation in the War on Drugs, because the end IS in sight. These meters were not designed to "Catch growers".

Perhaps as a tool of environmentalist-style enforcement of Carbon capping, but even that I don't really see happening.

This really sucks if they can identify total KWH by device type. Smaller grows using fluoros or mixed spectrum MH would be difficult to confirm, since those lights are used in aquariums etc. But LEO is going to use this capability as much as they possibly can to get warrants.

But it's relatively new technology, and a lot of highly motivated and intelligent people will be developing workarounds if this becomes more of a threat.

Yeah..these smart meters suck! Supposedly, utilities want these so they can identify outages sooner! Bullshit!!! If your out of power you can bet your ass you and all your neighbors who lost power will be on the phone in a heartbeat driving the csr at the local power co. nuts (customer service rep). Those smart meters will give them the capability of shuting off your power if their system is becoming overloaded, which could be catastrophic, like what happened in NYC a while back. The electric grid in this country is archaic to say the least! Do you have a swimming pool filter that has to run so many hours a day? like maybe 12/12?? just hook your lights up to that circuit.

I thought I'd just throw my $.02 into the info pool here.

The way these meters can determine what you use is by looking at how you use electrical power. Not all devices behave he same way as a load. Incadesent lamps are almost pure resistive as are heating coils. Motors and HID lamps are mostly inductive loads.

Resistive and Inductive loads change the time relationships between voltage and current. These time based relationships are recorded along with the amp draw. Why? Because inductive loads load down various component of the power grid in different ways so this info helps the power company balance it's loads.

But it also is very telling in what devices you are using. HID lamps have a very large inrush current along with that inductive load. This inrush current lasts as long as the lamps are starting and are not masked by flip-flopping lamps, much to the opposite of what is commonly held as a truth.

Power conditioners do not mask power consumption as the only flatten out the voltage as seen by the utility. The Inductive Load is still seen by the power provider due to the disturbed time relationship between voltage and current.

Hope this lights up some of the darker corners of this discussion.

M.P.

MarquisBlack said:

I've had one installed for a few months now... I run 3k+, and haven't had any problems.

Click to expand...

1kW here.
I've had a smart meter for 2-3 yrs.
No worries.

MerryPrankstr said:

The way these meters can determine what you use is by looking at how you use electrical power. Not all devices behave he same way as a load. Incadesent lamps are almost pure resistive as are heating coils. Motors and HID lamps are mostly inductive loads.

Resistive and Inductive loads change the time relationships between voltage and current. These time based relationships are recorded along with the amp draw.

Click to expand...

Good thinkin, I was going to ask about this. Makes perfect sense when you explain it like that.

While the thought of smart meters is somewhat scary, it won't end growing by a long shot..

I assure you all there are thousands of appliances, household electronics, fish tanks, you name it; that all can have similar signatures as a small grow op. If you're running a big time OP, well, perhaps this could be a bump in the road, but for your average grower this won't change a thing. Not to mention the manpower to investigate all the false claims would outweigh any benefit.

As someone else said, smart meters aren't made to catch growers.

A number of counter measures can be implemented.Put your lights on a flip or try LED lights which are supposed to be getting better ,but the price sucks

nnep said:

While the thought of smart meters is somewhat scary, it won't end growing by a long shot..

I assure you all there are thousands of appliances, household electronics, fish tanks, you name it; that all can have similar signatures as a small grow op. If you're running a big time OP, well, perhaps this could be a bump in the road, but for your average grower this won't change a thing. Not to mention the manpower to investigate all the false claims would outweigh any benefit.

As someone else said, smart meters aren't made to catch growers.

Click to expand...

And there's just so much information to have to plough through.