Watch the “completely safe” smart meter explode and catch this unfortunate person’s house on fire. Pay no attention to the fire, that smart meter is fail-safe because CONsumers Energy SAID SO!
CIA Head: We Will Spy On Americans Through Electrical Appliances
Global information surveillance grid being constructed; willing Americans embrace gadgets used to spy on them
Steve Watson
Infowars.com March 16, 2012
CIA director David Petraeus has said that the rise of new “smart” gadgets means that Americans are effectively bugging their own homes, saving US spy agencies a job when it identifies any “persons of interest”.
Speaking at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology investment operation, Petraeus made the comments when discussing new technologies which aim to add processors and web connections to previously ‘dumb’ home appliances such as fridges, ovens and lighting systems.
Wired reports the details via its Danger Room Blog:
“‘Transformational’ is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies,” Petraeus enthused, “particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft.”
“Items of interest will be located, identified, monitored, and remotely controlled through technologies such as radio-frequency identification, sensor networks, tiny embedded servers, and energy harvesters — all connected to the next-generation internet using abundant, low-cost, and high-power computing,” Petraeus said.
“the latter now going to cloud computing, in many areas greater and greater supercomputing, and, ultimately, heading to quantum computing.” the CIA head added.
Patreaus also stated that such devices within the home “change our notions of secrecy”.
Petraeus’ comments come in the same week that one of the biggest microchip companies in the world, ARM, unveiled new processors that are designed to give practically every household appliance an internet connection, in order that they can be remote controlled and operate in tandem with applications.
ARM describes the concept as an “internet of things”.
Where will all the information from such devices be sent and analyzed? It can be no coincidence that the NSA is currently building a monolithic heavily fortified $2 billion facility deep in the Utah desert and surrounded by mountains. The facility is set to go fully live in September 2013.
“The Utah data center is the centerpiece of the Global Information Grid, a military project that will handle yottabytes of data, an amount so huge that there is no other data unit after it.” reports Gizmodo.
“This center—with every listening post, spy satellite and NSA datacenter connected to it, will make the NSA the most powerful spy agency in the world.”
Wired reports that the incoming data is being mined by plugging into telecommunications companies’ switches, essentially the same method the NSA infamously uses for warrantless wiretapping of domestic communications, as exposed six years ago.
Former intelligence analyst turned best selling author James Bamford, has penned a lengthy piece on the NSA facility and warns “It is, in some measure, the realization of the ‘total information awareness’ program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.”
Filed under Documents, National News
DTE and Consumers to Propose ‘Smart Meter’ Opt-Out
from: michiganstopsmartmeters.com
February 18, 2012 – In an interview which appeared today in MiTechNews.com, DTE spokesperson Len Singer said the utility will propose, in a filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) next month, an opt-out provision for customers. He indicated that his company recognizes this is an “extremely emotional issue” for some, but that the company still believes the meters are safe and has no plan to halt or slow down ongoing installations.
A spokesman for Consumers also stated that his company will propose an opt-out in a filing due next month under the terms of the MPSC Order that opened the current investigation. This company plans to start installations of the new meters this summer.
No details are available as yet regarding either company’s opt-out proposals – such as what the alternative to the smart meter would be, who would be eligible or what fees, if any, might be charged for not accepting the smart meter.
There is much that remains to be accomplished. We still think the MPSC needs to conduct a thorough and unbiased investigation of the possible health effects of these new meters and the ‘mesh networks’ required to operate them. We also think the Commission needs to declare a moratorium on any further smart meter installations until such a health study has been completed.
We believe it is as important as ever that the legislature enact some smart meter protections for the public. There are fundamental social and moral issues – including health, privacy and property rights. These are not just details that should be worked out by a regulatory commission that seems more comfortable when dealing only with rate issues.
Still we think that today’s announcement represents a major breakthrough. We are cautiously optimistic.
Filed under Michigan
Smart Meter Opt-Out Legislation Introduced
from: michiganstopsmartmeters.com
Representative Tom McMillin (R) of Rochester introduced today, along with 8 co-sponsors, proposed smart meter opt-out legislation in the Michigan House of Representatives. The bill, known as H.B. 5411, contains a whole series of prohibitions against the electric utility companies of the state with regard to what are termed “advanced meters” and directs the Michigan Public Services Commission (MPSC) to enforce these prohibitions. Click here to continue reading this post.
Filed under Grand Rapids, Michigan
CITIZENS NEEDED TO HELP PETITION GRAND RAPIDS CITY COUNCIL TO RENOUNCE SMART METERS!!
If you are interested in being an advocate for a safer Grand Rapids, please email me at stopsmartmetersgr@gmail.com. I am looking for people to help me bring the smart meter issue to the Grand Rapids City Council. Our fellow activists on the east side of the state have had great success in introducing moratoriums on smart meter deployments by their utilities. If you resent the heavy handed tactics of Consumers Energy and DTE, stand up and let your voice be heard. I promise you, there is no better feeling than speaking truth to power!!
Filed under Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Local Face of SmartMeters
In UK, Smart meters for energy to be voluntary
Plans to force households to have energy smart meters installed have been shelved over health and privacy fears.
Smart meters communicate remotely from households to energy companies Photo: REX
By Rowena Mason, Political Correspondent
6:30AM GMT 01 Feb 2012
The Government had promised that every household would have a smart meter by 2019 in a £12 billion programme to stop gas and electricity bills being estimated.
Officials are devising plans to allow people to reject the smart meters, which communicate remotely from households to energy companies.
The move is a victory for campaign groups and backbench MPs, who raised concerns with ministers that the devices emit electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day and cannot be turned off.
Privacy campaigners were worried that half-hourly data on energy usage collected by smart meters could give clues about people’s way of life, such as when someone is on holiday, at work or asleep. Sources in the Department for Energy and Climate Change said the proposal was shelved to avoid the programme getting “bogged down” in lengthy legal disputes.
There has been a public outcry recently about the potential health effects of smart meters in the US and Canada.
About 400,000 have been installed in British homes. Most of the devices emit similar radiation to mobile phones, microwaves and wireless internet.
Campaigners are worried about the build-up of such devices in the home.
Some people claim to be sensitive to electromagnetic fields, saying it gives them symptoms such as nausea, fatigue and headaches.
In America, utility companies have been hit with multi-million dollar class action lawsuits from people who have had the devices installed in their homes.
Regulators say smart meters are safe. But protesters point to the American Academy of Environmental Medicine’s opposition to the devices.
Bill Esterson, MP for Sefton Central, is now urging the Government to say whether smart meters will come with health warnings.
Charles Hendry, the energy minister, said: “We believe people will benefit from having smart meters. But we will not make them obligatory.”
Filed under International
LET CONSUMERS ENERGY KNOW HOW YOU FEEL ON FEBRUARY 7TH
GET THE WORD OUT!
FEBBRUARY 7, 2012 FROM 7PM-9PM
Grand Haven Community Center
Downstairs Escanaba Room
421 Columbus Avenue
Grand Haven, MI 49417
Per Roger Morgenstern, Consumers Energy SmartGrid Coordinator, Consumers Energy plans to ‘present information addressing concerns on security, safety (RF issues) and privacy’ which Consumers saw as the primary concerns mentioned at the 11-17-11 meeting.
We have asked ‘if technical personnel, intimately familiar w/ all aspects of the technology and its intended deployment will be present to answer specific questions in great detail?’ We have also asked that the topic of ‘dirty electricity’ be addressed.
SmartMeter Update
Michigan Public Service Commission: MPSC Order U-17000 dated 01-12-12.
The Order is requiring all regulated utilities in the State of Michigan to answer 9 questions based on the information these utilities are aware of. The MPSC will complete their review & analysis to the extent their staff is trained in these matters.
Utility responses are due by March 16, 2012.
Public comments are due by April 16, 2012.
MPSC Final Report is due June 26, 2012
Here is an article discussing our concern with the MPSC Order and its lack of transparency, and depth of investigation & evaluation.
http://michiganstopsmartmeters.com/2012/01/28/mpsc-sleight-of-hand/
Here is a link to the MPSC U-17000 Public Docket Submission
http://efile.mpsc.state.mi.us/efile/viewcase.php?casenum=17000&submit.x=15&submit.y=10
You will find some 32 submittals by citizens concerned w/ this technology as of 01-28-12.
Please take the time to submit your own opinions and any research or personal experience, to add to the availability of ‘public information’ such that the utilities will be able to have access to scientific research expressed by other independent scientists, researchers and medical professionals, other than that which they subscribe to.
Here is direction on how to submit your own statement to the Public Docket from the MPSC Order itself.
Electronic comments may be emailed to: mpscedockets@michigan.gov. Any person requiring assistance prior to filing comments, may contact Commission Staff at (517) 241-6180. All comments should reference Case No. U-17000. Comments and other documents received in this proceeding will become public information, posted on the Commission’s website, and subject to disclosure.
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/12/31/federal-lawsuit-filed-against-city-of-naperville-illinois/
What can YOU do?
Attend the meeting on 2/7
Write letters to the editors of local newspapers.
These need to be submitted no later than tuesday 01-31-12 to ensure they will be printed in time for the tuesday 02-07-12 meeting.
Submit your personal statement to the MPSC U-17000 Public Docket within the next few weeks via e-mail or USPS.
Multiple submissions are possible.
Please note the following websites:
www.StopSmartMeters.org (California original organizers)
Database to collect SmartMeter related complaints.
Asks specifically if interested in putting SmartMeter to vote & willingness to participate in class action lawsuit)
Filed under Grand Rapids, Michigan
Costly fiasco of smart meters that don’t work: Millions of devices may be replaced, warns watchdog
Last updated at 10:59 PM on 27th January 202
Millions of green energy meters may have to be replaced because the technology is not working properly.
Homes and businesses which have already installed the digital devices have had problems switching to cheap deals and are even being hit with extra fees.
Many meters could have to be stripped out altogether and reinstalled with a Government-approved model.
Going green: Ofgem has said the new meters may be ‘useless’
A Daily Mail investigation has revealed how some small businesses are being charged 20p a day simply to have a smart meter while many homeowners are being asked to give readings to energy firms because the technology is not transmitting their data properly.
The latest green energy fiasco is the result of suppliers pressing ahead with installing their own smart meters before the Government has decided on a standard model.
Every home and small business is due by 2019 to get a smart device, which is designed to show people how much energy they are using by the minute, so encouraging them to cut back to save money and energy.
However, even though installing the meters does not officially begin until 2014, many energy companies, including E.ON and Npower, are already doing so.
Filed under International
INTERNATIONAL PHYSICIANS’ GROUP CALLS FOR HALT TO WIRELESS SMART METERS
Organization tells CPUC that smart meters pose health risks, especially for children
January 24, 2012 (San Diego)–The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has become the first national physicians’ group to adopt a resolution calling for a halt to wireless smart meters.
The group sent a resolutionto the California Public Utilities Commission opposing smart meters due to health risks and calling on the CPUC to take preventative actions to protect the public health.The letter notes that medical literature has raised “credible questions about genetic and cellular effects, hormonal effects, male fertility, blood/brain barrier damage and increased risk of certain types of cancers” from radio frequency levels emitted by smart meters. “Children are placed at particular risk for altered brain development, and impaired learning and behavior. Further EMF/RF adds synergistic effects to the damage observed from a range of toxic chemicals,” the international doctors’ organization concluded.
Smart meters have been installed by SDG&E and other utility companies on residences throughout California and thus far, SDG&E has refused to allow residents to have the devices removed.
Below is the full text of the AAEM’s resolution.
January 19, 2012
Proposed Decision of Commissioner Peevey (Mailed 1/22/2012)
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
On the proposed decision 11-03-014
Dear Commissioners:
The Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine opposes the installation of wireless “smart meters” in homes and schools based on a scientific assessment of the current medical literature (references available on request). Chronic exposure to wireless radiofrequency radiation is a preventable environmental hazard that is sufficiently well documented to warrant immediate preventative public health action.
As representatives of physician specialists in the field of environmental medicine, we have an obligation to urge precaution when sufficient scientific and medical evidence suggests health risks which can potentially affect large populations. The literature raises serious concern regarding the levels of radio frequency (RF – 3 KHz – 300 GHz) or extremely low frequency (ELF – o- 300 Hz) exposures produced by “smart meters” to warrant an immediate and complete moratorium on their use and deployment until further study can be performed. The board of the American Board of Environmental Medicine wishes to point out that existing FCC guidelines for RF safety that have been used to justify installation of “smart meters” only look at thermal tissue damage and are obsolete, since many modern studies show metabolic and genomic damage from RF and ELF exposures below the level of intensity which heats tissues. The FCC guidelines are therefore inadequate for use in establishing public health standards. More modern literature shows medically and biologically significant effects of RF and ELF at lower energy densities. These effects accumulate over time, which is an important consideration given the chronic nature of exposure from “smart meters”. The current medical literature raises credible questions about genetic and cellular effects, hormonal effects, male fertility, blood/brain barrier damage and increased risk of certain types of cancers from RF or ELF levels similar to those emitted from “smart meters”. Children are placed at particular risk for altered brain development, and impaired learning and behavior. Further EMF/RF adds synergistic effects to the damage observed from a range of toxic chemicals. Given the widespread, chronic and essentially inescapable ELF/RF exposure of everyone living near a “smart meter”, the Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine finds it unacceptable from a public health standpoint to implement this technology until these serious medical concerns are resolved. We consider a moratorium on installation of wireless “smart meters” to be an issue of the highest importance.
The Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine also wishes to note that the US NIEHS National Toxicology Program in 1999 cited radiofrequency radiation as a potential carcinogen. Existing safety limits for pulsed RF were termed “not protective of public health” by the Radiofrequency Interagency Working Group (a federal interagency working group including the FDA, FCC, OSHA, the EPA and others). Emissions given off by “smart meters” have been classified by the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Possible Human Carcinogen.
Hence, we call for:
• An immediate moratorium on “smart meter” installation until these serious public health issues are resolved. Continuing with their installation would be extremely irresponsible.
• Modify the revised proposed decision to include hearings on health impact in the second proceedings, along with cost evaluation and community wide opt-out.
• Provide immediate relief to those requesting it and restore the analog meters.
Members of the Board
American Academy of Environmental Medicine
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine, founded in 1965, is an international association of physicians and other professionals which “provides research and education in the recognition, treatment and prevention of illnesses induced by exposures to biological and chemical agents encountered in air, food and water.”
Filed under Health Risks, Michigan, National News
Stop Smart Meters in Grand Rapids 