From Smart Grid Awareness

By K.T. Weaver, SkyVision Solutions
February 22, 2017

Key Points Made in Appeal Brief

• As a matter of law, NSMA members have a reasonable expectation of privacy for data acquired from inside their homes.  The Kyllo case, as precedent, held that because of the special sanctity of the home, residents automatically have a reasonable expectation of privacy in all material and data inside their home.  Yet the district court ignored this fundamental Fourth Amendment principle.

• Utility “smart meters” collect detailed electricity usage data that can reveal intimate information about residents’ personal lives within their homes.

• Warrantless collection of smart meter data (beyond that necessary for the basic delivery of electric service) without consent is an illegal “search,” regardless of whether or how that data is later analyzed or used.

• The court erred in concluding that residents “are deemed to have consented” to collection and use of their data by a government-run electricity provider merely “through their usage of electricity services knowingly supplied by the City.”

• Consent to a government search must not be the result of duress or coercion.

For full article with details:

Naperville Smart Meter Awareness Group Appeals to Higher Court on Fourth Amendment Violations