“Could smart meters be used to spy on your home? Devices could be used to create ‘honeypot’ of data to sell onto marketing companies, privacy campaigners warn”
The article goes on to explain how data from smart meters represents a “honeypot” for companies and could be used by marketing firms to target consumers.
The article states:
“Gas and electricity firms will be able to use smart meters to collect information about how customers use energy as frequently as every half hour.
“This could reveal details such as which rooms and gadgets clients use most regularly, as well as when homeowners are in or out and even what time they are going to bed or how many cups of tea we make.”
Environmental lawyer Sue Grey was recently a guest on Mainland News where she discussed some of the health and privacy issues with smart meters.
You can see Sue Grey at the link below. (The interview is second in the broadcast; the first story features South Island businesses that have been nominated for awards…Another interview on the subject of smart meters follows the interview with Sue Grey.)
NB: To sign up for a free email list to keep updated on the smart meter issue from a New Zealand perspective, please visit www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz Thank you.
In the meantime, if you want to retain control of the appliances in your home (rather than cede it to your electricity retailer and/or lines company) you may wish to consider doing the following:
1) Refuse to get a smart meter or getting an existing smart meter removed
2) Making sure that any appliances that you may purchase or already have in your home are not s0-called smart appliances.
Please see the link below for information on how a smart meter may allow your electricity company to take control over your heat pump or air conditioner – and how to choose a model that should not be vulnerable to this type of corporate hijacking:
“Smart” water meters are currently being trialled in Tairua on the Coromandel and are being considered by the Waikato District Council (see links below for details).
Your chance to see the award winning smart meter documentary Take Back Your Power is coming up on February 24 in Auckland. (If you are not in Auckland, the film may be streamed or purchased from www.takebackyourpower.net.)
This highly recommended documentary covers health, privacy and other issues with smart meters.
NB: If you are interested in the smart meter issue, please sign up to the free email list on www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz and you will receive updates on the situation in NZ.
This morning’s Dominion Post features an article by Ben Heather about how the Privacy Commissioner has received a number of complaints concerning how smart meters infringe on people’s privacy.
Smart meters pose a risk to privacy (and home security) because they collect data about electricity use in half hourly intervals 24/7 and transmit it back to the electricity company (and/or another party such as a lines company).
When this data is “deaggregated” by computers it is possible for power companies (or any other company or individual that has access to the data) to work out what appliances were in use when and thereby build up a profile of activities in a household or business. It is also easily possible to work out when people are home or not at home.
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