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Ask Slashdot: Are Smart Meters Safe?
An anonymous reader writes "There is a lot of controversy and a big hullabaloo about Southern California Edison and various other utilities around the country installing smart meters at residential homes. Various action groups claim that these smart meters transmit an unsafe amount of RF and that they are an invasion of privacy. The information out there seems rather spotty and inconsistent — what do you engineers out there think? Are these things potentially harmful? Are they an invasion of privacy?"
How are we defining 'safe' in this instance?
If by 'safe' you mean doesn't put out a harmful amount of RF, I would guess the jury's out on that one, and probably will be for quite some time, especially considering what other government agencies (TSA) have gotten away with up to this point when it comes to hiding device emission data from the public.
If by 'safe' you mean 'cannot be hacked,' I would say no right off the bat, as anything that transmits information wirelessly is inherently unsafe due to the nature of RF signal propagation.
If by 'safe' you mean that it won't spontaneously combust and take half your home with it in the subsequent atomic blast, then I would say yea, probably not a lot of risk on that one.
Also... First Post.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Unfortunately, the majority of people in the US are creationists. Science has no place here. Move on.. nothing to see...