As the international effort to deploy so-called “smart
meters” to monitor electricity usage marches on, resistance
to the controversial devices is increasing around the world
as well. Proponents argue that the scheme could save money
and reduce energy use. Opponents from across the political
spectrum, however, worry that the smart meters might not be
just a stupid idea and a waste of money they could actually
be dangerous in more ways than one.
Critics of the technology cite, among an array of concerns,
the potentially vast surveillance capabilities of the new
electric meters, which allow governments and other entities
to gather detailed personal information on a previously
unimaginable scale. Possible health risks, threats to
privacy from hackers, higher costs for customers, efforts to
reduce electricity usage and impose changes in energy-use
patterns, and many other problems are also contributing to
the growing tide of opposition.
Smart meters are ostensibly designed to monitor
electricity use in far greater detail than traditional
electric meters, all while giving energy suppliers faster
and easier access to the data. The devices also wirelessly
transmit the information collected to a central location and
can even communicate with newer household appliances. A
range of other advanced functions that older metering
technology did not provide some yet to be developed or even
imagined are also cited by critics and advocates alike.
One of the key selling points for the devices, which are
also being used to meter natural gas and water, is that they
allow utility operators to revamp their pricing structures.
Utility monopolies could, for example, decide to charge more
for electricity during high consumption periods while
reducing prices during low usage hours. If it was a free
market, most liberty-minded Americans probably would not
mind that. But of course, there is more.
Another supposed benefit, for power companies at least, is
the ability to monitor and control electricity delivery
without physically visiting the customer’s property. Power
or even water can be turned off remotely, making it much
easier for suppliers to cut off service even over matters
that previously would not have been worth sending out an
employee to physically flip the switch.
Despite immense pressure from special interests, lobbyists,
and government-controlled utility providers, however, public
support for smart meters is virtually non-existent. Even
some high-level officials, including the attorney general of
Connecticut and lawmakers throughout the nation, have balked
at paying in some cases billions of dollars for a program
that offers few benefits, if any, to the consumers who are
being forced to pay for it.
Still, from Europe to Japan and Australia to Canada, the
expansion of smart meters is already well underway. In the
United States, funded partly by the so-called “stimulus”
package, the controversial devices are also spreading
quickly, costing billions of dollars already. Some
jurisdictions have essentially made the new meters
mandatory, while policy makers in a few areas have passed
legislation banning them.
The myriad downsides and the dubious benefits have attracted
fierce criticism and more than a few protests by outraged
consumers. From Texas to California to Maine and even Canada
, citizens have been resisting the scheme to install smart
meters on their property sometimes successfully, in other
cases meeting with failure.
Opposition to smart meters actually made national headlines
last month after a Texas woman pulled a gun on a man
attempting to install one of the devices at her home. “My
main concern originally was the privacy — as far as I’m
concerned this is a surveillance device,” Houston-area
activist leader Thelma Taormina told The New American after
the incident. But in addition to the potential violation of
the Fourth Amendment, Taormina and other smart-meter
resisters have many other concerns.
At the top of smart-meter opponents’ lists is the systematic
violation of personal privacy by authorities, Big Business,
or any individual who knows how to access the wireless data
being transmitted by the devices. Surprisingly, however, it
is not just citizens and activists who have spoken out about
the problem. In June, the European Data Protection
Supervisor (EDPS), an official EU body, expressed serious
concerns as well.
“The Europe-wide rollout of ‘smart metering systems’ enables
massive collection of personal information from European
households, thus far unprecedented in the energy sector,”
the EDPS said in a report , calling the new system “a
radical change” compared to past information gathering. “The
potential intrusiveness of collection is increased by the
fact that data are collected, which may infer information
about domestic activities: data may track what members of a
household do within the privacy of their own homes.”
According to the report, smart meters will allow the
collection of detailed data regarding energy consumption
“down to the hour, quarter of an hour, and more.” The mass
amount of detailed information, it said, means that anyone
with access to the data will be able to “know when each
individual appliance in a household is turned on and off,
and can often also identify what specific appliances are
used.”
The system could be a potential goldmine for
non-governmental criminals, too — letting them determine,
for example, exactly when a house is unoccupied. “This
raises concerns with regard to security, the rights to
privacy and the protection of personal data,” the report
said. “The risks to data protection, however, go further
than these most immediate concerns.”
Even more alarming for privacy advocates, the report
continues by noting that “deployment of smart metering may
lead to tracking the everyday lives of people in their own
homes and building detailed profiles of all individuals
based on their domestic activities.” On top of that, the
EDPS explained, smart meters can even collect data from RFID
tags, the electronic chips that are becoming increasingly
ubiquitous worldwide.
“Further, law enforcement agencies, tax authorities,
insurance companies, landlords, employers, and other third
parties may also be interested in personal energy usage
information,” the EU report continued. In its concluding
remarks, the EDPS noted that the mass adoption of the smart
meters entails “considerable risks” and enables “massive
collection of personal data from European households and may
lead to tracking what members of a household do within the
privacy of their own homes.”
Also a concern of many smart meter opponents is the scheme’s
links to broader international efforts to achieve what the
United Nations calls “sustainable development.” In essence,
the UN, through Agenda 21 and other deeply controversial
mechanisms, wants to reduce consumption of everything —
electricity and power in particular.
Because smart meters have so many potential applications and
functions, critics worry that the devices will be used first
to change energy-use patterns — trying to decrease usage
during certain time periods, for example. Eventually, many
opponents believe the devices will be used to gradually
reduce power consumption regardless of what consumers think
about it, or even what they need.
Indeed, countless activists across the United States have
already highlighted the link between smart meters and
broader UN-backed goals of decreasing consumption. “Smart
meters or energy audits affect everyone in town,” observed
American Policy Center chief Tom DeWeese, a long-time foe of
the UN and its controversial "sustainability" agenda. “What
is the problem? Government is dictating your energy use that
you are paying for.”
Then there are health concerns, especially surrounding the
emission of pulsed radio-frequency (RF) radiation by the
devices. Some activists say they suffered adverse effects
when a smart meter was installed at their home. And despite
the complaints largely being dismissed by proponents of the
new system or the special interests profiting from it, even
the American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called
for caution in rolling out smart meters while further
studies and investigations are conducted on the potentially
harmful effects.
“Multiple studies correlate RF exposure with diseases such
as cancer, neurological disease, reproductive disorders,
immune dysfunction, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity,”
the academy says on its website about the radiation emitted
by smart meters and other devices that use similar
technology. “Genotoxic effects from RF exposure, including
studies of non-thermal levels of exposure, consistently and
specifically show chromosomal instability, altered gene
expression, gene mutations, DNA fragmentation and DNA
structural breaks.”
As the controversial devices continued to be rolled out
across the Western world and eventually much of the planet,
many opponents and activists say they would be satisfied
with an “opt out” allowing them to keep their old meters if
they specifically chose to do so. Other critics and
skeptics, however, want the smart-meter roll out to be based
on an opt-in system, if not scrapped altogether.
Officials have gradually started to acknowledge the
concerns, and in many states, caution is being exercised, if
only for political reasons. In areas where smart meters have
already been adopted, opposition is still growing, and it is
likely that authorities will eventually be forced to allow
citizens to demand removal of the devices from their homes.
In the meantime, however, the battle will continue to rage
as authorities build their so-called "smart grid ."
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