The Privacy Commissioner warns that power companies know when you’re home thanks to smart meters. They know when you are out and when you go to bed and they know much more than that. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner yesterday fired a warning shot at power companies over the huge amounts of private details that smart meters collect every day.
The memo also raised concerns about how personal information gathered by smart meters could be used by the rising number smart appliances, which could connect to each other through the meters.
There are valid concerns that information could be hacked or sold to thieves, used by insurance companies to deny claims, and become discoverable in court cases, much like phone records.
Most people probably gloss over the privacy policy in the same way you click on ‘I Agree’ for updating your iTunes account. Most people may be unaware that these sorts of warnings are in there and that this sort of technology is in play.
Smart devices are interactive electronic gadgets that understand simple commands sent by users and help in daily activities. Some of the most commonly used smart devices are smartphones, tablets, phablets, smartwatches, smart glasses and other personal electronics such as computers, robotic vacuum cleaners and a host of other devices found in your home. While many smart devices are small, portable personal electronics, they are in fact defined by their ability to connect to a network through a smart meter to share and interact remotely. A smart metre fitted to your home gives access to those devices. Many smart devices have concealed microphones to enable activation by the user. TV sets and refrigerators are also therefore considered smart devices. Smart devices can be turned on remotely even when they appear to be off.
Many devices as well as smart TVs have video cameras and microphones. Siri, FitBit and other devices are constantly collecting data about a person’s whereabouts and habits, and then transmitting that information back to the company that created and remotely maintains a device.
Some smart TVs even have cameras enabled with facial recognition technology and are recording images of users, all of which is mentioned in the paper manual that comes with a TV, a packet that most neglect to read. How can this all be legal? By including a privacy manual with a smart TV that outlines collection and recording policies, a company can argue that a user was informed and essentially gave consent by using the device anyway. Additionally, under the law, the information recorded and collected by a smart TV is considered a third-party business record.
What can you do?
If you have concerns, you can put a lock on your meter box if a smart meter is not already fitted. Contact your power company and let them know that only an analogue meter is allowed to be fitted, or change to a power company that will replace your smart meter with an anologue meter that does not send a signal or have WiFi.
Ownership of the meter box is quite complicated. There are several possibilities:
- You may have bought your own meter.
- The meters were sold by the line company to the existing energy retailer. If you switch retailers, your original supplier may continue to own the meter, or it may sell it to your new supplier.
- The meter is owned by the line company.
- The meter is owned by an independent meter company.
- The meter was installed by a company that no longer exists and you may own the meter. This is the most likely possibility. If you own the meter on your property then should power companies be able to swap it without your permission or take your old meters if they belong to you?
Is metering down to appliance level finally possible?
“A smart metering technology breakthrough that will potentially allow energy suppliers for the first time to provide customers with itemised bills and statements showing their specific electricity consumption by appliance type,” may be a reality according to 42 Technology.
Triple Ohm monitors changes in the high frequency current or voltage harmonics in a single- or poly-phase power supply caused when specific appliances are used. It can identify and differentiate between the characteristic traces belonging to specific appliance types and, using a sophisticated data analysis algorithm, separate them out to calculate energy consumption per device. The resulting data can then be displayed in real time via a smartphone app or a low cost home energy monitor, and can also be stored within the meter for incorporation into the householder’s next bill.
Modern smart TVs often have “features” that inspect what you’re watching and report it back to some company’s servers. This data can be sold to marketers, or it could be tied to you somehow to create a better ad-targeting profile. Really, you’re not getting anything out of this — the TV manufacturer just makes some more money with this data.
Is your new smart TV spying on you? Many new TV’s are equipped with a microphone that allows for voice control, a function that is akin to Apple’s “Siri.”
The functionality is great for innovation and ease of use (can you imagine having to push buttons on an old fashioned remote control?), but the privacy policies tucked deep inside the boxes of these new TVs reads like they were ripped out of a George Orwell novel: Here’s Samsung’s:
“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”
Smart Meter Companies Admit: We’re Spying On You
Smart meters are spying devices. Not breaking news? Likely not for those who have researched the issue for quite a long while, but an admission by those who make the devices is rather shocking.
That is exactly what has happened, as SmartGridNews, a website supported by the high-tech meter industry, acknowledged that smart meters are gathering private information on homeowners.
Smart meters utilize wireless technology and instantly tell power companies how much electricity a home is using, and even can report on the power usage by individual appliances, as Smart Grid News said. Smart meters also can literally control newer household appliances that have the capability to communicate with the device.
“One of the next areas of value comes from taking smart meter data and ‘disaggregating’ it to tell us exactly how customers are using electricity,” reads a new story on the website. “Do external devices already do this? Sure. Just as progress in the smart phone world reduced the need for external devices (cameras, alarm clocks, radios, pedometers, navigation systems, etc.) the ability to get accurate, appliance level feedback, without the need to invest in external hardware, is the next step in the world of smart meters.”
Cyber hacking of smart meters to possibly overload and garner control of significant portions of the power grid is also an often-voiced worry about the smart power initiative.
According to the Stop Smart Meters group, the smart grid devices do not always emit less RF (radio frequency) exposure than a cell phone — as some utility companies allegedly state.
“People are becoming increasingly aware of the potential harm done by chronic exposure to RF radiation-emitting devices and are taking steps to change how they use them. Most people are not offered a wired smart meter and you can’t turn it off once it is installed,” the group contends.
Full story above – A Portland family contacted Amazon to investigate after they say a private conversation in their home was recorded by Amazon’s Alexa — the voice-controlled smart speaker — and that the recorded audio was sent to the phone of a random person in Seattle, who was in the family’s contact list.
“My husband and I would joke and say I’d bet these devices are listening to what we’re saying,” said Danielle, who did not want us to use her last name.
Every room in her family home was wired with the Amazon devices to control her home’s heat, lights and security system.
But Danielle said two weeks ago their love for Alexa changed with an alarming phone call. “The person on the other line said, ‘unplug your Alexa devices right now,’” she said. “‘You’re being hacked.’”
That person was one of her husband’s employees, calling from Seattle.
“We unplugged all of them and he proceeded to tell us that he had received audio files of recordings from inside our house,” she said. “At first, my husband was, like, ‘no you didn’t!’ And the (recipient of the message) said ‘You sat there talking about hardwood floors.’ And we said, ‘oh gosh, you really did hear us.’”
Danielle listened to the conversation when it was sent back to her, and she couldn’t believe someone 176 miles away heard it too.
“I felt invaded,” she said. “A total privacy invasion. Immediately I said, ‘I’m never plugging that device in again, because I can’t trust it.’”