If the planks for the coffin are subscription lists, membership discount stores, census questionnaires and automated traffic-cams, the nails sealing the lid are the new Smart Meters and Smart Grid – a digital metering system used by power companies that feature two-way communication from your home to their computer.
Smart Meters not only give the home owner (renter, too) a real-time picture of exactly how much energy (electricity or gas) is being used moment by moment, it can help companies and government agencies – and anyone else who may buy the information – a fairly accurate picture of what is happening inside your own home.
Smart Technology Designed to Save Consumers Money
Smart Meters and the associated Smart Grid were intended to help consumers become more aware of their energy consumption by giving constant, real time readings. The consumer could then adjust his usage by turning down the thermostat or switching off some appliances.
Power companies save an average $75/month per residence by not sending out meter readers every month. During those months that they don’t come, the power companies estimate the usage based on previous months. According to the Community Communications Authority, power companies frequently lose money on those estimates due to under-billing. The Smart Meters’ two-way communication eliminates the need for in-person meter-reading.
The problem is the information gathered and stored by this system. With the Smart Meters, the power companies collect detailed records of every energy consumer from private homes to corporations to schools, even hospitals and such. Every second of every day, every degree of temperature, every kilowatt hour of usage is recorded. If a person has her thermostat lower during the day while she’s at work then raises it when she gets home, a pattern is established that the power company can read.
Mass Volumes of Personal Information Gathered
The sheer volume of information gathered defies comprehension. MSNBC’s The Red Tape Chronicles wrote in October, 2009, “Pacific Gas and Electric of California says it plans to collect 170 megabytes of data per Smart Meter per year.” Multiply that times the 100 million meters planned for installation in the US alone by 2019, and the figure is around 170 petabytes of data every year. (that’s “170” followed by 15 “0’s”.)
Such a number is virtually impossible to fathom. To put it in perspective, that is roughly the amount of the entire volume of printed material in the entire world – collected each year just from reading our energy consumption. All that just to help consumers lower their energy costs?
That information shows patterns set by energy customers – patterns such as the time a consumer wakes up every day, leaves the house, returns to the house, cooks dinner, watches television, washes laundry or dishes, takes a shower, goes to bed, or goes on vacation.
Such patterns are derived not only from spikes and lulls in energy consumption, but in the technology itself. General Electric has developed a line of “Smart Appliances” to match the level of responsiveness of the Smart Meters. These appliances join in the communication process, feeding even more information into the Smart Grid.
Personal Information for Sale
What happens with that information? No one can say. But information is the hottest commodity on the market today. Information that is not explicitly protected by law can be bought and sold on the open market. AllMedia, Inc. boasts “access to all types of mailing lists” including business, consumer, response, subscriber and association. Increasingly, companies are protecting their customers’ privacy and stating how they do that in publications sent out each year. Consumers would be well-served by reading those statements to ensure that their information is not being sold to third parties without their consent.
Whether or not the information is sold, there are agencies that may access it without the consumer’s permission or even knowledge. Government agencies acting under the guise of national security or exercising a search warrant may be able to examine a company’s or individual’s records.
Sir David Omand is the British Cabinet Office's former security and intelligence coordinator. According to the London Evening Standard, Sir David believes that the war on terror will “involve breaking every day moral rules” including using the growing number of databases and going through records of innocent people.
So, what’s the harm in a little excess information?
Even as far back as 1967, when computer technology was in its infancy, Arthur Miller, today a law professor at Harvard University, wrote,
With its insatiable appetite for information,…a central computer might become the heart of a government surveillance system that would lay bare our finances, our associations, or our mental and physical health to government inquisitors or even to casual observers.
Computer technology is moving so rapidly that a sharp line between statistical and intelligence systems is bound to be obliterated. Even the most innocuous of centers could provide the “foot in the door” for the development of an individualized computer-based federal snooping system. (Miller)
Of course, speculation on possible conspiracies or government overreaching is always easy to find. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s not valid. The RedTape Chronicles considered the possibilities.
They might sell this information to marketing companies -- perhaps a travel agency will send brochures right when the family vacation is about to arrive. Law enforcement officials might use this information against us ("Where were you last night? Home watching TV? That's not what the power company says … ”).
A credit bureau or insurance company could penalize you because your energy use patterns are similar to those of other troublesome consumers. Or criminals could spy the data, then plan home burglaries with fine-tuned accuracy. (Sullivan)
It all smacks a little too much of Winston and Thought Police.
As previously stated, this threat of privacy abuse is still speculative. The whole Smart Meter/Smart Grid system is only in the beginning stages. At the time of this writing, Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, California and Texas had installed a few hundred thousand Smart Meters in target areas, with more to follow.
The Smart system is a priority for the Obama administration. According to Politico.com, $4.5billion has already been allocated for development of the SmartGrid. Companies like IBM are working feverishly on their own products as well as funding other development. The Smart Grid is coming, whether Americans want it or not.
References:
- “Mailing Lists for Sale”. AllMedia.com. Sep 29, 2009.
- Cecil, Nicholas. “Privacy Sacrificed in War on Terror, Says Spy Chief”. London Evening Standard. Dec 2, 2009.
- "Wireless Advanced Metering Infrastructure". Community Communications Authority. Jan 21, 2008
- Freeman, Kim. "Demand for GE's Smart Appliances Increases in Smart Grid Pilot Programs".
- Businesswire.com. Nov 17, 2009
- Lovely, Erika. “Obama Says Yes to Smart Grid”. Politico.com. Mar. 4, 2009.
- Miller, Arthur A. “The National Data Center and Personal Privacy”. The Atlantic. Nov 1967
- Sullivan, Bob. “What Will Talking Power Meters Say About You?” Red Tape Chronicles.
- MSNBC, Oct. 9, 2009.
Elizabeth Linehan - Elizabeth studied American Sign Language at Brigham Young University. She has worked with hearing impaired and multipli-handicapped ...
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