Your Smart Meter Knows Which Appliances You're Using #privacy #smartmeter

Our Take

Credit to the channel Business Reform for connecting a dot a lot of privacy coverage misses: your smart meter is a sensor too. If a utility (or whoever buys its data) can tell when your dryer kicks on or your lights go out, they can infer your daily routine just as easily as an ALPR camera logging when your car leaves the driveway. Different sensor, same goal — building a 'pattern of life' profile on you.

This is exactly why we keep hammering on Flock Safety and similar license plate reader networks. No single data stream is the threat; it's the aggregation. Utility data tells them when you're likely home. ALPR data tells them where your car goes when you're not. Put those together — and law enforcement, data brokers, or hackers increasingly can — and you've got a surveillance dossier nobody voted for and most people don't know exists.

We can't regulate your power company from here, but we can shine a light on the camera network watching your car. Check the map to see what's tracking you on the road, and hit up take action if you want to push back on the cameras your city council approved without asking you.