2018-08-17 USA Court acknowledges smeters are invasive, but not “unreasonable”

[4G – 5G Microcell / Small Cell Towers Antenna Siting Legislation – Appliance Load Profiles – BC Hydro – Blue Light (Alpha Tocoferol, Blindness, CFL, LED, Macular Degeneration, Melatonin, Retinal, Sleep) – Centralia City Light (Aclara, M.L. Norton, Peter Abbarno, PLC) – Clean Energy Act – Data Harvest – Devra Davis – Doctor Ajith Karunarathne – Fibre Optics – FortisBC – Fourth Amendment Search – Health (Cancer, Diabetes, Eyes, Heart Disease, Obesity) – Henry LaiKasun Ratnayake – Letter to CBC Marketplace re Investigating EMR, Wireless Devices, Health Canada Safety Code 6, HESA 2015 Report – Life Expectancy – Magda HavasMartin Blank – Media Blackout – Military Studies – My Street, My Choice! – NSMA Appeals Lawsuit re Privacy (Department of Public Utilities, Diane P. Wood, Doug E. Ibendahl, John Z. Lee, Michael S. Kanne, William J. Bauer) – NTP – Opt In – Ramazzini Institute – Richard Hansler – Smart Grid Customer Bill of Rights – Smart Meter Replacements Costs – Thermal Imaging – Tracking | BC – Canada – Italy – California & Naperville, Illinois & Centralia, Washington, USA] & Websites

1)    The utilities have misled their customers when they state that smeters’ life expectancy is 20 years. Industry admitted before a USA Congressional Committee that it actually was 5-7 years. The smeters are having to be replaced during the period when the first batch is still being paid for. A never-ending pit of expenses.

There is no question that BC Hydro and FortisBC are replacing smeters, but after asking for almost a year, I still have been unable to find out how many smeters have been replaced and the costs for doing so. In Washington, at least, the public is being told.

(click on photos to enlarge)

Centralia City Light – Smart Meter Replacements, Centralia, Washington, USA
– http://www.govtech.com/fs/infrastructure/Washington-Utility-Moves-to-Replace-Failing-Smart-Meters.html

Washington Utility Moves to Replace Failing Smart Meters

“Washington’s Centralia City Light Department will soon begin the process of replacing more than 10,000 smart electricity meters over the next five years after the city council approved the use of more than $1 million in funds at its meeting Tuesday….

Those meters came with a 10-year life expectancy and have been failing at an increased rate, according to City Light General Manager M.L. Norton. He plans to take advantage of a special pricing plan offered by Aclara to install new meters that should last twice as long and save more than $1.2 million via the discounted unit price and waiving of three years worth of support fees.”

http://www.govtech.com/fs/infrastructure/Washington-Utility-Moves-to-Replace-Failing-Smart-Meters.html

2)    Court in USA found that smeters collect data that reveals personal info about the occupants of a home but, nevertheless, if the utility takes appropriate measures to not misuse the data, this intrusion is “reasonable”.  As far as I know, we have no such protection under the Clean Energy Act.

Naperville Smart Meter Awareness Lawsuit – Illinois, USA re Privacy – 2011 – 2018
– https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511534395-home-energy-use-info-gleaned-from-smart-meters-is-4th-amend-search-but-not-unreasonable-appeals-panel

Home energy use info gleaned from ‘smart meters’ is 4th Amend ‘search,’ but not ‘unreasonable’: Appeals panel

“Noting their conclusions could change based on what other cities and utilities may choose to do with information gleaned from homeowners’ energy use, a panel of federal appeals court judges has found Naperville can continue collecting and storing electricity usage data transmitted directly by so-called “smart meters,” even though the data harvest essentially amounts to a governmental search under the Fourth Amendment.

“To this court’s knowledge, using too much electricity is not yet a crime in Naperville,” the judges wrote.  “And Naperville’s amended ‘Smart Grid Customer Bill of Rights’ clarifies that the city’s public utility will not provide customer data to third parties, including law enforcement, without a warrant or court order….

At the Seventh Circuit, the judges conceded NMSA is correct to label the data collection a “search,” under the terms of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment.

“The ever-accelerating pace of technological development carries serious privacy implications,” Judge Kanne wrote. “Smart meters are no exception. Their data, even when collected at fifteen-minute intervals, reveals details about the home that would be otherwise unavailable to government officials with a physical search. Naperville therefore ‘searches’ its residents’ homes when it collects this data.”

The judges drew parallels between Naperville’s smart meter data collection and the activity discussed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kyllo v United States, in which the high court determined law enforcement did not have the right to take even crude thermal scans of a home to determine if the occupants were growing marijuana inside, or taking part in other illegal activity which could be discerned from certain heat signatures.

“In fact, the data collected by Naperville could prove even more intrusive,” Kanne wrote. “By analyzing the energy consumption of a home over time in concert with appliance load profiles for grow lights, Naperville law enforcement could ‘conclude’ that a resident was using (grow lights) with more confidence than those using thermal imaging could ever hope for. With little effort, they could conduct this analysis for many homes over many years.”

https://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511534395-home-energy-use-info-gleaned-from-smart-meters-is-4th-amend-search-but-not-unreasonable-appeals-panel

3)    A really interesting website from a California group re. 5G.

http://mystreetmychoice.com/

http://mystreetmychoice.com/

It is encouraging the use of fiber optic cable to the home:

http://mystreetmychoice.com/press.html

4)      More on the effects of blue light on our well-being.  Studies show that blue light can lead to blindness, and blue light is emitted from computer screens,  tablets, etc. as do CFL and LED light bulbs.

Chemists discover how blue light speeds blindness

“To protect your eyes from blue light, Karunarathne advises to wear sunglasses that can filter both UV and blue light outside and avoid looking at your cell phones or tablets in the dark.

“Every year more than two million new cases of age-related macular degeneration are reported in the United States,” Karunarathne said. “By learning more about the mechanisms of blindness in search of a method to intercept toxic reactions caused by the combination of retinal and blue light, we hope to find a way to protect the vision of children growing up in a high-tech world.””

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-chemists-blue.html

Blue light has a dark side

“If blue light does have adverse health effects, then environmental concerns, and the quest for energy-efficient lighting, could be at odds with personal health. Those curlicue compact fluorescent lightbulbs and LED lights are much more energy-efficient than the old-fashioned incandescent lightbulbs we grew up with. But they also tend to produce more blue light.”

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

Letters:

https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/the-secret-inside-your-phone-by-wendy-mesley-cbc-marketplace-march-24-2017/

From: X
Sent: August 11, 2018
To: marketplace@cbc.ca
Subject: Investigation ideas for the Fall

Hello,

I would like to see a widely broadcast news programme, such as Marketplace, tackle the subject of exposure to Electro Magnetic Radiation, as it relates to cell towers, cell phones, wifi and smart meters.  Along with this would be an honest critique of Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 (one of the worst protective standards for EMR of all countries) with a reference to the HESA report of Parliament in 2015 (March and June) and the testimony of people like Dr. Magda Havas (Trent University), Dr. Martin Blank, Dr. Henry Lai and Dr. Devra Davis. There are many more people who could be referenced in this subject, people who have degrees in human biology as well as areas which inform Electro Magnetic Radiation.  Dr. Havas has material from 1950 to the present, from the military which has been tracking the effects of EMR for decades.

Studies from the USA (NTP, Ramazzini) need to be referenced too.  The problem has been that no news outlet will tackle this subject, perhaps because of the power of the Telecom industry.

There is a huge amount of information out there and I would be happy to add more references, should you choose to tackle such a thorny subject.

Thanks for the opportunity to make this suggestion.

X
Galiano Island

 

[1) https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/2018-08-10-cbc-marketplace-asking-for-ideas-for-programs/

http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/]

 

 

Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
 
“Any one who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”
~ Voltaire

 

www.facebook.com/Coalitiontostopsmartmeters

Smart Meters, Cell Towers, Smart Phones, 5G and all things that radiate RF Radiation