Comment Re:only going to get worse... (Score 1) 375
According to TFA, the smart meters will do more than that. They are intended in the medium term to allow power control within the house. So that the meter can signal to, say, the freezer that power demand is particularly high, and if it could hold off consuming power for a while it would be appreciated.
Yes, that is the selling point used to win over the ballast into allowing those things on their houses.
Information also flows upstream. That information will be used to prove you guilty. It will not be available to you for use in proving yourself not-guilty.
I have seen the phenomenon with my own eyes. Houston has a red-light camera system, but civilians have not been told that it also logs license plates. "Authorized users" can remotely access the system in order to find out which intersection a particular license plate last crossed. It is used to track people down, usually for arrest.