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1. Linux_Is_Best (linux_is_best@mstdn.social)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 01:50:45 JST Linux_Is_Best

   Thanks to DuckDuckGo, today, I learned that my electric and gas company (EverSource) adds trackers to their emails.

   Someone tell me, why does the electric and gas company need to track you on the internet?

   #EverSource #DuckDuckGo

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 01:50:39 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     @Linux_Is_Best Well, if you have a smart meter they’re already tracking you in your own home so why email also? (Is likely their thinking.)

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 02:55:47 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     @Linux_Is_Best Based on the sampling frequency, your smart meter can go from revealing when you’re home or not to what you’re watching on television and what kind and brand of appliance you’re using (via fingerprinting). Law enforcement, insurance companies, advertisers, etc., would love such information. (Not to mention folks who carry out MITM attacks.) So, yeah, I’d say less tin-foil hat and more valuable data that can (and if not strictly regulated) will be used against you.

   • Linux_Is_Best (linux_is_best@mstdn.social)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 02:55:48 JST Linux_Is_Best

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan

     @aral

     OMG. I remember all the "tin foil hat" views people had about smart meters. 😂

     The common smart meter only allows the electric company to read your meter without coming to your house or needing a hard link data connection.

     They don't know what I have running and when it is running. In my case, I use the same energy when home and not home. The AC /heat stays the same (I have pets), the computer is always on, as is the refrigerator.

     But yes, I remember all those crazy theories.

   • Aral Balkan (aral@mastodon.ar.al)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 03:55:47 JST Aral Balkan

     in reply to

     • Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC

     @Linux_Is_Best @LordCaramac You do you, man.

   • Linux_Is_Best (linux_is_best@mstdn.social)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 03:55:48 JST Linux_Is_Best

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan
     • Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC

     @LordCaramac @aral

     Damn it... now I have to stop operations. / Sarcasm

     😂

     All jokes, I don't have to worry about any of that. But you seem to know quite a bit. 😅

   • Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC (lordcaramac@discordian.social)'s status on Thursday, 19-Oct-2023 03:55:49 JST Lord Caramac the Clueless, KSC

     in reply to

     • Aral Balkan

     @Linux_Is_Best @aral However, if you're running a secret marijuana growing operation, smart meters can possibly catch you even if you use energy efficient LED panels. One single grow light panel only uses roughly 40-50W, but you usually need about a dozen of those if you want to grow enough weed to sell a significant part of it and not just smoke it all by yourself, so we're talking about roughly half a kilowatt, automatically switching on and off in two groups of 150-400W, one for the plants in the grow phase, one for the plants in the flowering phase of their lives. Such regular rhythms are very visible. With the old style fluorescent and sodium vapour lamps, the energy usage was six or seven times higher and could expose you even without smart meters, but after the switch to LEDs, it has become much harder to find grow operations by looking at their overall electricity consumption. Smart meters make them visible again.