Lynne Kiesling
Friday night’s PBS Newshour had a feature story on the protests in California over the installation of digital electricity meters in the PG&E distribution monopoly service territory. These protests focus on two separate issues: one is a claim that the wireless communications from the meters create electromagnetic fields that harm health, and the other is a claim that the digital meters are a privacy threat and make it easier for PG&E and the local, state, and federal governments to access individual electricity consumption data.
I’ve been following these stories closely since they started in 2010, and if you haven’t been following them, this analysis provides a good summary.
I am rooting for the anti-meter folks. As long as the government is run by people who think it is a good idea to harass people who want a soda in a large cup*, it is a bad idea to create the tools they could use to further control our lives.
Predictable, Fat Man. You don’t have to root for them, they already won their right in CA to pay a fee of $75 and $10/month to opt-out. But a pittance to ensure that the gubment can’t tell what TV show you are watching by knowing your electricity consumption on a 15 minute basis. It’s a win-win.