1) Testimony before US Congressional Committee, utility VP acknowledges that life expectancy of smeters is 5-7 years!! This is what we’ve been saying all along, that the 20 years used by both BC Hydro and FortisBC in their business plans was exaggerated. The costs of maintaining and upgrading these will be never-ending as it is with every computer. No wonder the corporations want these on every building.
““These devices are now computers, and so they have to be maintained. They don’t have the life of an existing meter which is 20 to 30 years. These devices have a life of between 5 to 7 years. And so the challenge that the industry has is making sure they maintain their smart grid environment, not neglect it.””
http://smartgridawareness.org/2015/10/29/smart-meters-have-life-of-5-to-7-years/
2) As a follow up to last night’s update in which the Fire Inspector said we could help most by getting involved with our local fire dept., asking them to stop allowing this to occur, perhaps asking how they would like us to help them, etc. here is the contact information for most, if not all, of the fire departments in BC.
http://www.citizensforsafetechnology.org/Contact-Your-Fire-Chief-BC,56,2452
3) Telus has begun to install “small cell” transmitters along residential streets throughout Colwood, (in Colwood) one about every 200 meters, on poles right outside homes. Here is a letter Telus sent announcing this and a photo I took. From the letter, it sounds as if these will be emitting both Wi-Fi and cell phone signals. I have asked Telus for specifications and will share when I get them. I suspect these are being installed throughout the province.
4) Please consider signing and sharing this petition against the US Navy’s EMR wargames over the Olympic Peninsula and areas of BC.
5) I have shared these before but we have quite a few new members who have not had a chance to see these videos about the security issues. Black Hat, in case you don’t know, is a group of hackers who try to help the government and companies by showing the vulnerabilities of devices, etc.
These videos are from Black Hat and Defcon, which are hacker/security conferences:
EVENT : BlackHat 2014
Presentation : Lights Off! The Darkness of the Smart Meters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_y_vjYtAWM
EVENT : Black Hat USA 2012
Presentation : Looking into the Eye of the Meter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXfpEauUCto
EVENT : [DEFCON 20]
Presentation : Looking Into The Eye Of The Meter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-wtLkHwYdM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HIFmLtetSY
EVENT : DEFCON 2012
Presentation : Hacking Smart Meters – Part 1 of 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeoCOVXRX0w
6) Quebec journalist Andre Fauteux wonders why Californians are allowed to opt out and keep their analogs which Quebec Hydro ( BC Hydro and FortisBC) says are no longer available.
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/10/california-knew-smart-meters-were-dangerous.html
