Smart Grid Could Pose Threat To Privacy 297
Presto Vivace writes "Brian Krebs of the Washington Post reports on a study jointly released Tuesday by the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner and the Future of Privacy Forum. It seems that in the process of collecting all that feedback about energy use, utility companies will inevitably collect a great deal of information about us. From the article: 'Instead of measuring energy use at the end of each billing period, smart meters will provide this information at much shorter intervals, the report notes. Even if electricity use is not recorded minute by minute, or at the appliance level, information may be gleaned from ongoing monitoring of electricity consumption such as the approximate number of occupants, when they are present, as well as when they are awake or asleep. For many, this will resonate as a "sanctity of the home" issue, where such intimate details of daily life should not be accessible.'"
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:The only difference (Score:5, Interesting)
It's actually rather amazing how much data you can get from monitoring this sort of thing. For example, I used to track the CPU temperature of my computer. From looking at fluctuations in the graph, I could tell when when the furnace was running, when I entered and left the room, when the ceiling light was on, and so forth. I'm sure you could do the same thing with electricity usage: a spike of X watts represents the refridgerator, a shift of Y watts is the bathroom lights, etc.
Re:Kyllo (Score:4, Interesting)
Hopefully U.S. anti-marijuana laws will be declared unconstitutional (where was Congress given authority to completely ban a naturally-growing plant?) before this Smart Grid is implemented, and then it won't matter if you are using grow lights or not.
Re:yet people put that info on facebook (Score:3, Interesting)
The difference is that all of your examples are under the control of the potential victim.
They chose to put it on facebook.
They chose to 'leave a note on the door' instead of directly telling 'the milkman' (lol! at that bs)
They chose to not have a neighbor pick up their mail.
Why is it that guys like you claim the whole counter-terrorism thing
Uh, you've got your wires crossed, this is about efficient electric meters, ain't no counter-terrorism under discussion here.
Which should be a big fucking clue to you that there is a common principle that transcends specific justifications.
Re:Kyllo (Score:5, Interesting)
"Eight armed narcs raided the Dagy home on March 19 and found absolutely nothing. No evidence of pot anywhere, not even stashed in the children's toys. Seems that the coppers mistook the family's constant use of the dishwasher, washer/dryer, three computers, four ceiling fans, and other electronic devices as evidence of a felony drug operation. Oops. The Dagys--Mom's a homemaker and Dad's a general manager of 21 Shell stations--would like an apology from the Carlsbad Police Department. Sadly, we'd recommend that the Dagys not hold their collective breath."
I hate drug cops and homeland security. They keep performing these heinous searches and "eating out the substance" of our citizens
Re:Oh no (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah, it's never too much of a problem until it affects you. What if you live in an apartment and have a friend or family member come stay with you for an extended period of time and you suddenly get charged an occupant violation fee because your utilities are being monitored by the complex manager? Seeing at how gung-ho about fines the complex I just moved from is, I don't see that being too far-fetched of a scenario, especially if your utilities are included in your rent.
You violate the terms of your lease and you are fined. What's your point here?
Posted Anon. for obvious reasons... (Score:4, Interesting)
I "knew" a person that "grew" marijuana.
I once asked him, generally speaking, where he grew.
What he told me was that he grew in a barn up in the mountains. Why in a barn, I asked him. Because this far out from the city, the electric meters were not able to reach cell towers, and thus could not report daily usage rates. The meter reader came out once a month so all they had was monthly usage figures (one of them old "spinny" type meters). He did this because the daily usage data was used to look for electric usage that followed a specific pattern, primarily a 11-12 hour peak usage period that would indicate growing lights. That, and the fact that nobody had a reason to be parked across the street with a FLIRgun or flying helicopters overhead. That is what he claimed, anyways.
I also once met a chap that used many rolls of copper house wiring, all spliced together into a coil, all laid out under the soil just below high-tension powerlines. Inductive leeching provided his entire grow operation with power--almost completely untraceable as well. At least that is what he claimed...
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but... (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm in the midst of the smart grid, as a designer and a homeowner. I hate every part of it.
Automatic meter reading has been around for a while. It started with the Drive-by reads, where your meter was equipped with a small RF transmitter and a van was equipped with the receiver. Later, they used power-line communications that transmitted the data from the home to the substation, where the power company had its receiver hardware, and a telephone quality line to the utility. The down side to both methods is that it took almost a month to get every meter read, just in time to start again.
We have come a long ways since then, yet those initial technologies are still leading providers of Automatic Meter Reading (AMR). Some other providers came in with faster data rates, allowing for smart cap banks, integrated disconnects, demand billing, and outage detection. This created the AMI market (i = infrastrucure)
Re:The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but... (Score:1, Interesting)
The government is recommending an amazing number of details for the smart grid. AES256 encryption, IPV6, point-to-point communications, and a whole plethora of other requirements. A politician even stated that the smart grid could be used as a backbone in case the fiber lines go down.
This is complete bullshit.
The power line can only sustain low-speed communications. ( 1Kbps without repeaters). If you go up to 100Kbps, you need a repeater every 1.6Km (Homeplug PHY green, PRIME or G3 standards). If you go up to 1Mbps, you need a repeater every 500 meters. If you get up to 233Mbps (fastest available), you need a repeater every 100 meters (for underground wiring, 500 meters above ground).
It could go farther, but any high-speed signal you put on the power line will emit on the RF bands. Most PLC transmitters use a radio frequency style transmission to break through the power line noise. Every technology pushes its transmission up to the levels allowed by the FCC. The power line is a bare wire, just like an antennae, so you Will see the signal if you use a spectrometer or even a simple radio.
The power line has transformers on it, which act like a low-pass filter with a cutoff frequency of 6 to 50 KHz or so. In addition, the skin effect on the actual wire prevent practical distance communications at frequencies above 450KHz. The power line is an optimal for power conduction. However, it also means that you cannot transmit a communications signal over the power line unless you place a repeater on every transformer. This is optimal in the european and asian markets (they have 300+ houses per transformer), but unacceptable in the US and Japan (4-10 houses per transformer)
The only solutions that meet the Smart Grid are RF transmitters. At this point, just slap the cell phone companies and tell them to play ball.
I'd be more worried about secret DEA subpoenas (Score:1, Interesting)
What would stop the DEA from snooping nearly at will via secret subpoena of the data at utility companies, to further the "War on Drugs" to attempt to better detect grow ops? If you use standardized domestically available lighting and water pump apparatus, in short order they would come with smart grid compatible chips in the power supply supplying data to the house smart meter via PLC over the power cables themselves. Then without your knowledge (since most people won't realize their home equipment has embedded PLC modems), their appliances will snitch to the smart meter.
Yeah, I look real forward to DEA no-knock SWAT teams busting in because I like to use halogen lighting while I read in my bed every night. Oh, and thanks to the PATRIOT act and other anti-terror legislation, once the DEA gets its claws on the data, DHS and other government agencies will be all over you too. Imagine state tax agencies busting you for false property values and reporting lower taxes because you didn't disclose the various improvements you made to your house, which contained various electronic gear which snitched on you to the power company.
It's almost as bad as someone operating a high powered RFID reader outside your home. Sure, you would get hardly any useful data now, but RFID tags in consumer goods will only continue to increase (and for cost reasons will not include self-termination fusing), and the cost of embedding a PLC modem chip for smart meter/smart grid compatibility will drop as dedicated IC's come to market. Hell, it could easily sneak in under EnergyStar or UL certification rules and you would be none the wiser.
Though once the paranoia over stuff like this sets in, you'll start to see people live in faraday cage boxes with power provided through the cage via a non-conductive motor shaft and a generator on the inside, along with fiber optic network access.
Re:The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Part Deux:
They are placing new technology on top of an aging infrastructure instead of improving the actual aging infrastructure. This will not improve power reliability, the segment was already growing and did not need government intervention, and the cost will be passed on to the consumer, increasing the cost of everything in the name of a "green grid".
I work on the grid. Anything more will identify me, so I will stay vague.
The goal of the smart grid is to make a more efficient usage of our electricity. It encourages the homeowner to use their peak electricity usage on the off-hours when electricity is cheaper. Great in theory, but this is all marketing and lawyering and it will hurt the consumer for the benefit of utilities and companies like mine.
How do you improve electrical efficiency?
The same way you improve efficiency in every other system: By increasing the cost. If your electricity costs more, then you will be more conscientious about how much electricity you use. Then, you will buy more expensive electronics that have the "smart grid" capabilities.
Utilities have a government-sanctioned monopoly on their service area. Because of this monopoly status, the Utility has to get approval to raise their rates, usually through the county or state legislature. Many states have Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) which are in it to make money. They always want to increase their profit. (IOUs are similar to national banks, always looking for profit, As opposed to co-ops, which are more like a "community credit union". I love those guys.)
Utilities want to institute Tiered pricing in every single home. It means that you will be charged 2x during the day vs the night. The utility buys "In Home Displays" that plug into your home outlet and displays the current electricity cost. Some systems are based on a pre-pay system, so the IHD will also display how much energy they have left before they are cut off. (Mainly for poorer, high-risk customers)
Tiered Pricing: How is it cheaper?
Almost all of the utilities out there buy their electricity from a power generation company. They purchase electricity based on tiers. If they buy 499MW in on one month, it is one price, but if they hit 500MW on a single day, their cost for the entire month costs double.
An installation of a Load Control Unit (the one that controls your furnace/AC/Water Heater) can easily cost $1M. (each Load Control Unit costs $100 or so, labor to install is another $50 - $100, and you have to be at the home when the utility installs it...). At a certain user conference, a utility announced that a single load shed event paid for the entire system installation. (I kinda find his announcement hard to believe, but I won't complain) However, their rates did not change. The people served by this utility did not see a rate reduction. They only noticed that their house became warmer for no noticeable reason. The real reason was that the utility turned off their air conditioner for an hour to decrease their costs.
Remember, they need to go to the city/county/state to increase their billing rate. Do you really think that they will go to the legislature, tell them that they saved a bunch of money, and now they can charge less? That would never happen.
Here is another kicker: Thanks to EISA Section 1306, (implemented in 2007 by GW, paved the way for the "Smart Grid"), utilities can increase the rate on any system with a "Smart Grid" to recoup the cost of the Smart Meters. If a utility installs our Smart Grid system, they already recoup their costs just by firing the meter reads. So, not only will they save money by firing the meter readers, they don't have to pay for it because they can charge the homeowner more.
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics
The "smart grid" will supposedly create 10,000 jobs. They are considering a "job" as a single person touching a part of the system. Even though I still have a job, and my job existed before this system, I am part of this "10,000 jobs created". In fact, more
Re:Kyllo (Score:1, Interesting)
The US public demanded that the Federal government do something about drugs. Originally the Feds said they were powerless, but due to popular demand, laws were passed to deal with the dealers ;)
The banning of certain types of firearms during the 1920's was also due to public outcry and pressure on the Feds to do 'something about it'.
Re:Oh no (Score:2, Interesting)
I am not so sure having extra occupants in an apartment with free electricity is a no harm situation. The harm would be the extra cost of the extra power used by the extra occupant that is supposed to be covered by the extra occupant fee.
Re:Oh no (Score:1, Interesting)
And then there's the visitors from other companies. It's the reason I refuse to put my holiday dates up on the wall with everone elses. They think I'm weird. I think they are too trusting.
Your privacy is already gone. (Score:3, Interesting)
Privacy is already gone for the vast majority of people on the planet. The best anyone can hope for now is anonymity.
5, 10, 15 years from now, you'll be able to snap a picture of someone, upload it to Google Faces, and get back every single picture of that person on the internet. Some enterprising person will write a bit of software that reads the tags and connects them to public information sources about the person. There will probably be software that snatches up tons of publicly available writing samples of the person and compares it to a "signature" that has a reasonable degree of accuracy in figuring out who that person is. There will be other tools that let anyone do some basic snooping through archives to find other references to that person from other sources (like a Google stalk, but a bit more in-depth and the tool will tell clueless people how to be more efficient in tracking someone). If the footage from surveillance systems ever becomes public, you can bet that someone will figure out how to track an individual's movements. It will, in short, be trivial to get a work-up on people that's about as complete as you can imagine any private investigator, but you'll be able to do it on the fly, from home.
Our privacy is already gone, most of us just don't know it yet. The best that we can do is to make as sure as possible that all this surveillance data that is being collected becomes part of the public domain which will ironically help limit abuse.