"The Sacramento County Superior Court ruled that the surveillance program run by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and police violated a state privacy statute, which bars the disclosure of residents' electrical usage data with narrow exceptions. For more than a decade, SMUD coordinated with the Sacramento Police Department and other law enforcement agencies to sift through the granular smart meter data of residents without suspicion to find evidence of cannabis growing."
"EFF and its co-counsel represent three petitioners in the case: the Asian American Liberation Network, Khurshid Khoja, and Alfonso Nguyen. They argued that the program created a host of privacy harms-including criminalizing innocent people, creating menacing encounters with law enforcement, and disproportionately harming the Asian community. The court ruled that the challenged surveillance program was not part of any traditional law enforcement investigation. Investigations happen when police try to solve particular crimes and identify particular suspects."
A California judge ordered the end of a surveillance program that accessed SMUD smart meter data from thousands of residents. The Sacramento County Superior Court found that SMUD and police violated a state privacy statute that bars disclosure of electrical usage data except for narrow exceptions. For more than a decade SMUD coordinated with the Sacramento Police Department and other agencies to sift granular smart meter data without suspicion to seek evidence of cannabis growing. Petitioners argued the program criminalized innocent people, produced menacing law enforcement encounters, and disproportionately harmed the Asian community. The court concluded the dragnet was not a traditional investigation because it targeted all customers rather than particular crimes or suspects. Granular electrical usage data can reveal intimate in-home details such as sleep, showering, absence, and other personal habits.
Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]