Archives for smart meters

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 11/1/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

As we clean up in the physical world from Hurricane Sandy, let’s do a little clean up in the digital world as well by looking at some recent developments in research on smart meter privacy hazards, and on Amazon’s occasional forays into removing stuff from your Kindle that you bought and paid for.

And if you’d like to find out how to avoid having Amazon “repossess” books you have bought, you may want to take a look at arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/drm-be-damned-how-to-protect-your-Amazon-e-books-from-being-deleted/

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/12/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’ve been following the deployment of so-called smart meters which, as has been pointed out, are not particularly secure, giving rise to privacy concerns for consumers. Now there is a problem for the utilities themselves according to this report about an FBI document: hacking of smart meters to steal electricity.

krebsonsecurity.com/2012/04/fbi-smart-meter-hacks-likely-to-spread/

There are lots of free college courses available online. Here are some sites where you can find out more:

ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

mitx.mit.edu/

www.ocwconsortium.org/

oyc.yale.edu/courses

www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

www.open-of-course.org/courses/

www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative

opencontent.org/ocwfinder/

www.ocwsearch.com/

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 3/31/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Central Maine Power, as some other electric utilities in the this state and country, is installing so called Smart Meters to replace the old familiar meters that are on the outside of our houses. Many are worried about the radiation these meters will emit into our homes. A valid concern but in our view the bigger problem is the privacy problems and strategic
vulnerabilities on a national security level that these meters introduce.

See what you think.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 10/28/10

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Heard about Smart Meters? There’s one coming to your house soon. They are all the rage these days as a way to save money for electric companies and maybe consumers, too. But everything is not all sweetness and light. These meters have the capability to do a lot more than eliminate meter reader jobs. Listen up if you think your home is your castle.