States Ponder Privacy Concerns as Smart Grid Deployment Takes
Shape
Vulnerable
passwords, financial records or personal data are likely what first comes to
mind when thinking of cyber-privacy and cyber-security. But if recent reports
are to be believed, the newest and most pervasive threat to personal privacy
could be the smart meter that public utilities departments are increasingly
using to measure electricity consumption.
The U.S. Energy
Independence and Security Act of 2007 supercharged a movement that's developing
a power grid that gives power to users via digital technology. But some say
this smart grid might be too smart for everyone's own good.
In May 2010, The Denver Post reported that smart meters can gather
more data than just how much electricity a household uses. They can tell how
many people live there, when they sleep and when they aren't home. Smart meters
track when household members take showers, how much TV they watch or how often
they use the microwave. According to the newspaper, 52 million smart meters
will be in the country by 2015.
"Currently
there are multiple levels of security concerns. In terms of consumers, to start
with, the concerns are privacy -- how their information will be safeguarded and
how it will be used for or against them, permissions for how data will be shared
with multiple agencies, who is liable in holding that particular data and who
the consumer will go after if something goes wrong for them," said Sarav
Periasamy, CEO and president of PERI Software Solutions, a technology
consulting company.
The federal government's National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) released a 300-page report on the matter and stressed the
importance of keeping personal data confidential when meters are used. The
report, Smart Grid Cyber
Security Strategy and Requirements, also
found that smart grid technology provides more avenues for disgruntled
employees and cyber-criminals to compromise data.
A lot of
specifics about the cyber-security of smart meters will come down to local
utilities, where power is disseminated.
Smart Meter Regulations in the Works?
The California Public Utilities Commission is requesting comments
on a proposed decision to
require Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego
Gas and Electric -- the state's three major power providers -- to follow a
common outline in smart grid deployment.
One response from
of the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel's (OCC) was that the Commission, "should consider establishing policies
which err on the side of providing too much protection of customer-specific
usage information rather than too little protection, at least at the initial
state of the deployment of smart grids."
The OCC stated
that consumer privacy should not be vulnerable to compromise when data mining
of any kind is done by interested parties. The commission noted in its original
docket document that personal data collected via the smart grid could be
requested by third parties for several reasons -- industries conducting market
research on power use, for example, or police officers requesting the
information to analyze zones of criminal activity.
"The
Commission should consider separate policies for residential and nonresident
classes of customers," said one Black Hills/Colorado Electric Utility
Company response. "This may be a more practical approach since consumer
marketers have different tactics and motives than business-to-business
marketers, and policy protections should be designed accordingly."
Private-Sector
Privacy Solutions
The private
sector already is penetrating the marketplace with