Smart Meter Data: Privacy And Cybersecurity – Congressional Research Report 2012
In February of 2012, three attorneys with the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a lengthy report “Smart Meter Data: Privacy and Cybersecurity,” which addressed many of the same questions consumers have about those high-tech utility meters being forced on to customers’ electric, natural gas and water utility services in every state and globally. I’ve read the entire report and think consumers ought to know the more significant parts and information regarding your rights to privacy and security.
The CRS is a government agency basically providing background information about certain issues or topics members of Congress or congressional committees want to know more about. Nothing is a “hot button” privacy and health issue more than AMI Smart Meters, which are retrofitted in place of safe analog meters that have been in exemplary use for decades. The new AMI SMs have one advantage over the safe analog meters, which probably appeals to the United Nations: AMI SMs spy on the occupants inside the homes to which AMI SMs are retrofitted. Those personal rights violations are real and should be of valid concern to consumers who know their U.S. Constitutional and State Constitutional rights are being violated and abrogated. Apparently, those same issues may have been on the minds of some members of Congress, therefore, the request for a Privacy and Cybersecurity Report. In the Summary of that report, we find
Fueled by stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), electric utilities have accelerated their deployment of smart meters to millions of homes across the United States with help from the Department of Energy’s Smart Grid Investment Grant program. As the meters multiply, so do issues concerning the privacy and security of the data collected by the new technology. This Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) promises to increase energy efficiency, bolster electric power grid reliability, and facilitate demand response, among other benefits. However, to fulfill these ends, smart meters must record near-real time data on consumer electricity usage and transmit the data to utilities over great distances via communications networks that serve the smart grid. Detailed electricity usage data offers awindow into the lives of people inside of a home by revealing what individual appliances they are using, and the transmission of the data potentially subjects this information to interception or theft by unauthorized third parties or hackers. Unforeseen consequences under federal law may result from the installation of smart meters and the communications technologies that accompany them. This report examines federal privacy and cybersecurity laws that may apply to consumer data collected by residential smart meters. It begins with an examination of the constitutional provisions in the Fourth Amendment that may apply to the data. As we progress into the 21st century, access to personal data, including information generated from smart meters, is a new frontier for police investigations. The Fourth Amendment generally requires police to have probable cause to search an area in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. However, courts have used the third-party doctrine to deny protection to information a customer gives to a business as part of their commercial relationship. This rule is used by police to access bank records, telephone records, and traditional utility records. Nevertheless, there are several core differences between smart meters and the general third-party cases that may cause concerns about its application. These include concerns expressed by the courts and Congress about the ability of technology to potentially erode individuals’ privacy. If smart meter data and transmissions fall outside of the protection of the Fourth Amendment, they may still be protected from unauthorized disclosure or access under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). These statutes, however, would appear to permit law enforcement to access smart meter data for investigative purposes under procedures provided in the SCA, ECPA, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), subject to certain conditions. Additionally, an electric utility’s privacy and security practices with regard to consumer data may be subject to Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act). The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has recently focused its consumer protection enforcement on entities that violate their privacy policies or fail to protect data from unauthorized access. This authority could apply to electric utilities in possession of smart meter data, provided that the FTC has statutory jurisdiction over them. General federal privacy safeguards provided under the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (FPA) protect smart meter data maintained by federal agencies, including data held by federally owned electric utilities.
[CJF emphasis] How come state public utility commissions, their kangaroo courts and utility companies’ attorneys aren’t held accountable to the legitimate seriousness of the above constitutional issues, let alone the escalating adverse health effects from AMI Smart Meter radiofrequencies non-thermal radiation waves that now scientifically have been proven to break DNA bonds? On page 2 of that Report, the CRS lawyers say,
General federal privacy safeguards provided under the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (FPA) protect smart meter data maintained by federal agencies, including data held by federally owned electric utilities. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) allows the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to bring enforcement proceedings against electric utilities that violate their privacy policies or fail to protect meter data from unauthorized access, provided that the FTC has statutory jurisdiction over the utilities. It is unclear how Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizures would apply to smart meter data, due to the lack of cases on this issue. However, depending upon the manner in which smart meter services are presented to consumers, smart meter data may be protected from unauthorized disclosure or unauthorized access under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). If smart meter data is protected by these statutes, law enforcement would still appear to have the ability to access it for investigative purposes under procedures provided in the SCA, ECPA, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). [CJF emphasis] Page 3 addresses Smart Meter Data: Privacy and Security Concerns Residential smart meters present privacy and cybersecurity issues 19 that are likely to evolve with the technology.20 In 2010, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a report identifying some of these issues, which fall into two main categories: (1) privacy concerns that smart meters will reveal the activities of people inside of a home by measuring their electricity usage frequently over time;21and (2) fears that inadequate cybersecurity measures surrounding the digital transmission of smart meter data will expose it to misuse by authorized and unauthorized users of the data. [CJF emphasis] Source:
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