“Cybersecurity. Critical, critical issue. Totally unfunded. Totally vulnerable grid infrastructure. Somebody’s going to bring it down. And then it will get funded.”
Those were the words yesterday of Thomas Siebel at the Energy Thought Summit (ETS) held in Austin, Texas. Mr. Siebel is the CEO for C3 Energy, a smart grid analytics software company and the founder of Siebel Systems, which was acquired by Oracle in January 2006.
Update, March 24, 2015: LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Construction on giant cell towers needed to make Los Angeles County’s emergency communication system work has been halted until radiation concerns can be addressed. Dozens of firefighters came to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to let them know they do not want cell towers where they work.
The Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to install hundreds of new microwave radiation-producing cell towers throughout the County, including at County-owned and leased fire stations and lifeguard facilities.
This past week has been one of the worst ever for “smart meters” in terms of critical news reporting and negative revelations about these devices. Clearly, things are quickly spiraling out of control worldwide in terms of anybody believing that the smart meters are anything more than a giant and costly albatross hanging around the necks of consumers.
The results are “worrying,” say the authors of a newly published study [1] dealing with the exposure of mice to radiofrequency (RF) radiation fields.
According to Professor Alexander Lerchl, who conducted the new investigative study together with his colleagues from Jacobs University and also the University of Wuppertal in Germany, “Our results show that electromagnetic fields obviously enhance the growth of tumors.”
Article/ Study Highlights (as summarized by the authors)
Introduction
On March 4, 2015, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) held its 17th annual Teddy Waste Awards ceremony, celebrating the best of the worst in government waste. CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick served as host, joined by the CTF’s pig mascot Porky the Waster Hater.
The Teddy, the pig-shaped award given annually by the CTF to government’s worst waste offenders, is named for Ted Weatherill, a former federal appointee who racked up almost $150,000 in miscellaneous expenses – including a $700 lunch for two people – and was fired in the late 1990s.
Introduction
Many people question the wisdom of having a risky “smart grid” being imposed upon them and then ask, “Why? Why would people in authority ignore the tremendous risks associated with this technology?” To fully answer this question, it first helps to gain a better awareness of how the “smart grid” fits into the larger picture of a troublesome transformation that is occurring within our society. Although the signs of this transformation are evident, its careful orchestration is being carried out “under the radar” by people who should properly be characterized as “Technocrats.”
On February 13th, 2015, President Obama convened a summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection at Stanford University to respond to the rise in major data breaches at U.S. companies, including recent attacks on Anthem and Sony.
In the lead-up to the summit, on February 12th, Michael Krasny, Ph.D., hosted an episode of San Francisco’s KQED “Forum,” a news and public affairs program that concentrates on the arts, culture, health, business, and technology. This episode was devoted to examining the cybersecurity and privacy issues to be addressed (or not addressed) at the summit.
Most of the focus in the media has been on smart electric meters and the many risks that these devices pose for customers and their families. Another risk relates to privacy invasions associated with smart water meters. A growing number of utilities are installing these devices.
Since 2011 the Naperville Smart Meter Awareness (NSMA) group has been attempting to get injunctive relief from the mandatory installation of digital “smart” electric meters that collect granular energy usage data substantially in excess of that required for customer billing purposes. As of January 2015, the Federal smart meter lawsuit is still active, and the most recent court document filings are focusing on the invasion of privacy aspects of forced smart meter installations.
On January 23, 2013, Kim Bendis, at that time President of the NSMA, was arrested by Naperville police officers for both resisting an arrest dealing with the video and audio recording a police officer in the course of his duties (enforcing smart meter installations) and on a charge of “eavesdropping.” The statute for which the police based this arrest had already been declared unconstitutional by state courts at the time of the arrest. On October 1, 2014, Kim Bendis was acquitted of the charge of resisting arrest by a jury trial.
Kim Bendis is now seeking damages from the City of Naperville and penalties for the officers involved in her 2013 arrest. Continue reading
Attorney Jimmy Gonzalez gave testimony to the Florida Pembroke Pines Commission in October 2012 to petition the City to issue a Resolution raising awareness of the health risks of cell phone radiation.
Based upon the presentation shown below, Pembroke Pines in Florida joined a handful of other cities in adopting a resolution that warns the public about the potential health effects of cell phone radiation and precautionary safety measures that should be taken.
Mr. Gonzalez died in November 2014 at the age of 42. His passionate presentation from October 2012, however, lives on. May it help save lives.
Smart Grid Awareness 