Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters by Orlean Koehle


issues to be concerned about – mainly loss of privacy and government surveillance. But not once in the entire 14 pages does it address any health issues.


Major Issues of Concern with Smart Systems: 1. Turning our world into a surveillance society: “Some citizens have expressed discomfort at living in not a safer society but a surveillance society,” said Sam Palmisono, the boss of IBM... He cited a newspaper article recounting that there are now 32 closed-circuit cameras within 200 yards of the London flat in which George Orwell wrote his book, 1984 [about “Big Brother” watching our every move.] [I’m sure if Orwell were to come back and see his London now, he would say his book has come true.]


2. Possibility of the Smart Meters and other wireless machines being hacked: Hackers have become so sophisticated, nothing is too hard for them to hack into. The article mentions the “Stuxnet worm” and the May “flash crash” on Wall Street as examples of amazing hackers.


3. Turning our world into a Matrix: The article gives the possibility that the machines could become so powerful and able to control every aspect of people’s lives that our world could become like the movie “The Matrix.”


4. People will rely too much on the smart systems and their data collecting abilities: Since humans cannot cope with the huge amounts of data collected by the machines, the machines themselves will increasingly make the decisions that we should be making ourselves.


5. People’s creativity and thinking will be affected: Nicholas Carr, author of the book, “The Shallows,” claims that the internet, the mother of all smart systems, is on its way to smothering creativity and profound thinking.


6. People will be replaced with machines. Unemployment will increase: Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster, expects all the wireless technology to give a huge boost to productivity, but not so many humans will be needed. It will all be run by machines. There will be many without work.


7. Difficult to pass laws as oversight of smart systems: Concerns raised will be hard to deal with. There would be little point in passing laws that give individual the right to decide whether their data can be used by smart meters, when so much of their lives are already under surveillance through cameras, computers, cell phones and other sensors. “Building in circuit- breakers to keep automation from going too far could defeat the purpose of smart systems and stifle innovation.”


8. For some regulatory laws to pass there must be openness, but there are few people who understand the systems: “The biggest risk is that smart systems become black boxes, closed even to citizens who have the skills to understand them. Smart systems will make the world more transparent only if they themselves are transparent.”


(The Economist, “It’s a Smart World,” November 6, pp. 3-18, Economist.com/specialreports.)


Who is Liable? The Effect of Smart Meters on Land Developers and Landlords - The Deborah Tavares Story


Deborah Tavares and her husband Louis are the ones to whom many of us owe the most thanks for waking us up to the health hazards and the infringement on property rights of the Smart Meters. Here is their story of how they first became concerned and involved. This should be of special interest to others who also make their living from property – either as land developers, land lords or real estate agents:


My husband and I were land developers and owners in Southern California for 30+


years. We built many multi-family housing developments some of which we still own. We are 3rd generation builders and built from dirt to keys (builder phrase from start to finish). We always had to provide environmental impact studies prior to ever pulling our


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