WHAT would YOU do?
- Thread starter phillymatt53
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HE claims I am. But he replied a couple times after that.
No loss.
I guess I'm at the other end of the spectrum. I have a smart home, last time i checked I have 75+ items connected to my router, wifi and hard wired - lights, window/door sensors, motion sensors, thermostat, smart TVs, audio systems and on and on. All powered by a smart meter that I take great advantage of with time of day usage. Having Parkinson's my days and nights are flipped so I do laundry, dishes and much cooking/baking using the lowest rates, have my EV set to charge after 11PM too. Have Amazon echos all over the house, makes it easy to turn things on and off and adjust the temp. I'M 71 and don't have a big enough ego to think anyone cares how or when I do things, or what I watch or read online.
phillymatt53
Well-known member
So sorry to hear about your Parkinsons, a longtime friend of mine was diagnosed with it a few months ago, he 78.
However, sometime last year I noticed a gradual change in his demeanor.
He started being stubborn about some things, and always sounding negative about normal things, like shopping, everyday chores, etc.
He had other medical issues as well, a hip operation, afib, etc. which didn't help his attitude, and I tried to suggest a more positive way for his thinking about stuff.
My niece, a nurse, claims it's likely due to all the medications he has to take, along with the Parkinsons, affecting his judgement and reasoning.
He's now distanced himself from his friends, ignoring things.
As for me, at 72, I feel lucky that I've gotten this far with just the usual "old man's" aches and pains stuff.
However, I insist on my privacy and independence when it comes to all that technology that's caused much of society to depend on it.
I'm able to keep a "dumb house" with dumb appliances and be in control of things.
I've been diagnosed with essential tremor along with Parkinsonian syndrome, std. P meds don't help me in any way. Taking only a few things, no other health issues, so in that way I'm lucky. Sorry to hear about your friend, sounds like he is having a harder time with his P.
I've always enjoyed tech, built a Heathkit 25" color tv as a kid, big into audio and later video - still am.
I've always enjoyed tech, built a Heathkit 25" color tv as a kid, big into audio and later video - still am.
Please don't bark at the wrong tree.
The problem is not the devices, the Ethernet connection, the WiFi or the Bluetooth. The problem is what use is made of the data collected.
Smart electricity meters are a good example: I have no objections if they are used to exactly bill my consumption and optimise the management of the electric distribution network (which is more and more important because electricity production is becoming more "distributed", think of solar panels being installed on homes).
What I firmly object is that the data of my consumption, together with all the other data collected, are sold and aggregated together to "profile" and manipulate me.
And the proof is that in the European Union we are trying to regulate the use of personal data (just trying, unfortunately...) and the big American company are trying in any possible way, and with the willing help of the current administration, to force us to withdraw even the little regulation we have.
Regulating the use of personal data does not mean that smart meters are forbidden, what is forbidden is to sell the data of individual consumption to profile and manipulate people
The problem is not the devices, the Ethernet connection, the WiFi or the Bluetooth. The problem is what use is made of the data collected.
Smart electricity meters are a good example: I have no objections if they are used to exactly bill my consumption and optimise the management of the electric distribution network (which is more and more important because electricity production is becoming more "distributed", think of solar panels being installed on homes).
What I firmly object is that the data of my consumption, together with all the other data collected, are sold and aggregated together to "profile" and manipulate me.
And the proof is that in the European Union we are trying to regulate the use of personal data (just trying, unfortunately...) and the big American company are trying in any possible way, and with the willing help of the current administration, to force us to withdraw even the little regulation we have.
Regulating the use of personal data does not mean that smart meters are forbidden, what is forbidden is to sell the data of individual consumption to profile and manipulate people
How can they manipulate you by knowing how much electricity you use. They knew that long before smart meters existed. And who would buy it, how would they manipulate you by knowing your electricity usage? I'm genuinely curious. That meter has no way of knowing what you are using the energy for.
Before smart meters, they had to have employees manually read the meters, that cost money. That is the main purpose, it may even save YOU money.
The point is not only "how much" energy you use, but also "when" you use it: this is a piece of personal information that, combined with other pieces collected somewhere else, would allow to "profile" you, which means understanding your psychology, what you think, what you believe, what you want and what you fear, and on this basis it is possible to send messages aimed exactly at you and leveraging on your personality to make you believe or do what "someone else" wants (see the personalised messages on Facebook, which disappear after having been seen by the addressee and do not leave any trace, like a hidden and heavily personalised political campaign).
And sure: the electricity companies save on the personnel to read the meter, but then they can also earn money by selling the data collected by the meters to "data aggregators" that buy other data from other sources and then "profile" you.
And it's a diabolically effective method
I'd welcome having wifi on my appliances, all mine are too old, although I do have the dishwasher plugged into a wifi enabled plug which replaced a time-plug which didn't keep time as accurately and I'd have to bend over and fiddle about with when I needed to turn it on during the day. I do have one or two wifi enabled CCTV cameras and bluetooth thermometers.
Main issues with wifi / internet enabled devices are potential security issues with either the device or the software platform/server provided by the manufacturer, the manufacturer could disable or change features via remote software updates, and collecting data on the owner's usage. However, if those are concerns they could be connected to a separate subnet and blocked from accessing the internet, while still providing local network access (although some may insist on internet access to work via their app), and if required use a secure tunnel/vpn running on your own router for remote access from your phone.
I managed to create a hack to gain remote shell access for one of my cctv cameras for example and I wouldn't trust the security of the manufacturer's platform with remote access, so they are isolated from the internet on their own subnet.
Also with bluetooth, your neighbours and passers buy could work out some of the equipment you own, for example one neighbour has a large screen samsung TV and an expensive VR headset, which I suppose might be useful information to a passing thief. And as I flashed alternate firmware and have disabled the encryption on my bluetooth thermometers, my neighbours could monitor the temperature of my bedroom.
What are some specific examples of data related to psychology, beliefs, fears, and wants that can be determined from monitoring of electrical usage?
This is the data I can see from the Smart Meter that the utility placed on my house: 13-month history, current unbilled, past 24 hrs (15-min intervals). Red, blue and black lines reference outdoor temperature ... high, low, average ... I don't know what is their source for the readings.
Tell me what information you can glean from it. For example, what caused the usage spike at 1:30 am this morning?
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phillymatt53
Well-known member
Being retired now, and 72, I'm "targeted" from numerous directions.
My home mailbox, my internet E-mail, my home phone, not to mention including the tv and radio that I listen to.
**Organizations always offering to buy my home, others offering to put me in a "senior living" community.....
**All sorts of drugs tossed at me for illnesses that I don't have.....
**Utility companies offering to give me a free home energy efficiency inspection....
The list is endless....!
Granted, we've always had "junk mail" in our mailboxes.
And today's world is now even more annoying with computer database auto-dialers calling us up repeatedly with a robot or some some foreign-sounding stooge trying to scam us and get our personal information.
Being quite intelligent, focused, and I'll admit, stubborn, I'm not one who wants to deal with all that marketing crap.
It all smells of Greed, and quite annoying.
Nice to see someone else liked building Heathkit projects. Sorry that Parkinson's has impaired your building and the rest of your life. Best wishes.
I cannot tell you because I am not a specialist in this domain, but companies have invested billions to build the "technology" that allows to "profile" people using the apparently most innocent information: this is a brand new branch of psychology.
And those company are making even more billions selling their services, which actually means "profiling" people.
The problem is that people are either unaware of the danger, or irrationally scared by anything even slightly "technological"
I'd love to hear how they figure that all out from your energy usage. How do they know what I want? How do they know what I think?
How do they get my facebook (don't use it) , or email address from my electric usage? And you think they use mind control.
That information tells them nothing about your personality and the fact you are extremely paranoid.
The second half of that sentence is true.
Information there is still no way to make AI a mind reader…
It either does too much of what we can do or should do ourselves or technology is starving for another improvement to be added to save us more work that is manually or cognitively tiresome!
It either does too much of what we can do or should do ourselves or technology is starving for another improvement to be added to save us more work that is manually or cognitively tiresome!
So please, from your profound knowledge and wisdom tell them that they are just wasting billions: I am sure they will be very grateful.
But why don't you try to get informed, instead? In the last ten years reliable information sources have produced plenty of explanation on the matter
Once you hit 70+ you are no one's target demographic. Sure you may get "senior living" stuff but that is small in relation to the 30-55 age range with disposable income to burn. Many, most - seniors are on a fixed income and are of little interest to major players. If you are worried about your info being used run far away from Facebook, they are the biggest data scraper.
Please give me a link to the reliable information about all the info they can get by knowing your electrical usage.
And maybe another about how they are wasting billions? The smart meter SAVES them money.
At least the crack pot agrees with your logic. I'm shocked.
I tried to get informed, here it is again:
I'd love to hear how they figure that all out from your energy usage. How do they know what I want? How do they know what I think?
How do they get my facebook (don't use it) , or email address from my electric usage?
One link please.
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