Sacramento Uses Smart Electric Meters To Spy on Residents
In our brave new world of smart appliances and internet-connected everything (why would I want my dryer linked to WiFi?), a lot of things are much more convenient. Unfortunately, one thing that’s become so much easier is exploiting those interconnected widgets for surveillance and control. In California, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has been caught monitoring people’s electricity usage and reporting allegedly suspiciously high consumption to the cops. This isn’t even the creepiest use of remote snooping on electricity usage.
Snooping for Marijuana Farms and Finding Electric Wheelchairs
“For a decade, the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) has been searching through all of its customers’ energy data, and passed on more than 33,000 tips about supposedly ‘high’ usage households to police,” according to Hudson Hongo and Adam Schwartz of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
In the case of one man, as a result of a tip to police, “sheriff’s deputies showed up unannounced at his home, falsely accused him of growing cannabis based on an erroneous SMUD tip, demanded entry for a search, and threatened him with arrest when he refused.” The man in that case, Alfonso Nguyen, uses more electricity than some other SMUD customers because he has a spinal injury and requires an electric wheelchair that he charges at home.
The big concern for police is sniffing out illicit indoor marijuana farms. That seems like an odd preoccupation given that marijuana consumption and cultivation are both legal in California. Sacramento residents are allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants at home. But not everybody bothers to jump through the bureaucratic hoops required to get licensed for larger operations. Some just continue to do it the old-fashioned way: under grow-lamps in the garage. Why police would particularly care is an open question, but they care enough to deputize the local electricity utility into snitching on people using “a lot” of electricity, which might indicate a grow operation.
Adding to the peril for anybody who turns on the air conditioning from time to time is that what constitutes “a lot” of electricity
Article from Reason.com
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