I agree that security and privacy concerns need to be addressed for smart meters, just like they had to be (and still have to be) addressed for cell phones and wireless internet access and any other device that sends & receives data. Remember when the best security option for wireless routers was WEP and anyone with the right wireless card and a laptop could crack the key within minutes and (with the proper equipment) snoop on your wireless traffic from up to a mile away? They were not only be able to tell what video you are watching, but also see what web pages you are visiting and read the contents of the email you were sending and receiving (assuming you didn't encrypt it).
The example given in the NetworkWorld article was for a smart meter network that wasn't configured properly, which definitely is something to be worried about... as much as being worried about your financial web sites being secure, your email being secure, your cell and land line phones being secure, etc.
I get that some people, even those that embraced getting on the Internet despite all the known risks, will be against smart meters for whatever reason (real or imagined). But as you might guess, I support the smart meters and hope they take off... today's method of managing the electric grid is downright stupid, backwards, and wasteful. There was no reason for 3 million+ people to have no power for up to 5 days during a heat wave other than a dinosaur of an electric grid that we're stuck with today. If terrorism concerns you at all, the fact that someone could knock out power to that many people at once should really scare you. Smart meters pave the path toward 1) better energy management within each home (reducing load on the aging and overstressed grid), and 2) the ability to separate the current macrogrid into microgrids that support local neighborhoods with self-generated power (solar, fuel cell, wind, etc.) rather than relying on centralized power generation and several thousands of miles of distribution. With a microgrid system, the power can be routed to where it is needed, and if another portion of the grid is damaged by natural disaster or terror attack, the affected microgrid can be disconnected from the unaffected microgrids, preventing massive outages like those that affected the country a short while ago. Very similar in concept to the Internet... !
Anyway, I don't expect that I'll change the minds of those whose minds are already made up... but I do want to share what I know to counter some of the FUD that's out there.
BTW: t vago - I enjoy your aero kitteh collection!
