Defeating Smart-Meter Surveillance

As many of you are now aware there is a massive push occurring in many areas to replace the old power meters with a newer, and allegedly "more efficient" meter for the stated purpose of saving money and energy.

the purpose of this thread is not to convince you that they are evil or have any purpose other than the one stated by the manufacturer. there are plenty of threads already on above top secret that do a fine job explaining the surveillance uses for the meters ranging from live monitoring of power usage, to CELLDAR RF imaging, and WiFi interception. i will not even get into who is watching you or why as both of those are covered extensively in other threads as well (even though it is inevitable that someone will reply pretending that your preferences arent valuable to somebody somewhere *cough*googleadsense*cough*)

in this thread i will explain both passive and direct ways to circumvent this infringement of privacy.

but first, in order to understand how to circumvent a technology you must first understand the technology itself. a smart meter is fundamentally the same as your laptop computer. it has memory capable of storing data, it has a processor capable of computing data, and it has a [wireless] network card capable of transmitting data. the primary changes in this infrastructure are the breaking down of the data itself (which use to just be a sum), and method of sending that data to the power company. heres a rough diagram explaining the process.




our main focus will be on both the data itself, and the method of transmitting the data [wireless]

this first method is passive in that it does not require you to change any part of the original/expected process of power usage. at least not from the perspective of the power company... you see when you plug in your coffee pot, television, or super nintendo, there are several factors that distinguish it from other things in the house using power. these factors are Power(watts), Resistance(ohms),Voltage(volts) , and Current(Amps). Each device has its own way of mixing these variable and the "smart" meter uses its innards to distinguish those apart from one another, and attempts to identify the who,what,where,when, and how of a devices use.

We can borrow a few ideas from the "off the grid" crowd, and accomplish what we need without actually "going off the grid".

there exists an inexpensive device that can be found at any walmart, internet, or hardware store called a Power Inverter. all this device does is change a current from AC to DC. think of AC as the power coming from your wall and DC as the power that comes out of a battery. its got the same outlets that are in your walls, but sources its power from a battery. as with anything you get what you pay for so if efficiency is what your after, expect to pay more for your inverter.

next youll need a 12v Battery. an old car battery will do fine although you can buy much smaller ones for pretty cheap (far cheaper than a car battery...better get 2 so you can use one while charging the other)

last but not least a Battery Charger. this will be the only appliance the power company is able to see you using.

by running your actual appliances off the battery instead of directly from the wall, they will never know what appliances your using or when.

The next (more direct) approach has more risks and will almost certainly get your power turned off [eventually]. But ill explain it anyway in an effort to better understand the technology involved.

constructing a Faraday Cage around the meter itself will prevent it from both transmitting and receiving data of any kind. a faraday cage is nothing more than any kind of conductive material (such as aluminum foil or Mylar or metal screen) completely surrounding the object, and then grounded. the cage acts as an antenna, routing any and all EMF radiation to the ground. This will certainly force a meter maid to your area, the advantage you have is that these cages are easy to construct and de-construct. i guess if you were crafty enough you could attempt to assemble/disassemble before the employee comes and then just act stupid and suggest it is malfunctioning. they may eventually give up and put the old one back assuming there's some type of outside interference they have no control over. but its doubtful...

a Faraday cage will also protect you against WiFi data interception. the power companies claim that the meters operate on a 900mhz frequency but this was proven to be baloney. they operate on 2.4 ghz which is the same frequency as your wireless internet. not only are they capable of intercepting and storing wifi data, but they are vulnerable to haxors in the same right. haxors in your meter


the Last method requires some tech savvy, and is focused more on the CELLDAR RF imaging portion of the surveillance. Radio frequencies go through objects and things that we normally refer to as "interference". and CELLDAR turns that interference into 3d imagining. long story short a plane fly's over your area equipped with CELLDAR and they can see everything that falls under the RF "field" or "grid". even (specially) inside your home.

the key to defeating any form of RF interference imaging is to transmit the inverse of the source field. the sum of 2 inverse signals is 0. so if your able to capture the signal (wide-band receiver) invert the signal (RF pre-amp) and then re-transmit it. If your in a car you can transmit through the cars frame and drive around virtually invisible.

if you wish to do this on your body, same concept just attach a piezoelectrical transducer to your body and emit the signal through your skin. more information can be found on this through an ATS search.


but of course the best defense of all, is information. by simply informing your neighborhood of the privacy and health risks to installing these meters we can refuse the entire program before its even implemented. the program only works if everybody has one, so if we even get half of the community to opt-out or outright refuse, then the entire program is rendered useless.

another thing not often mentioned is that they sell these carriers to the highest bidder. meaning that it is very likely that your meter is piggybacking CELLULAR signals. cell phone companies are extremely interested in this infrastructure because by piggybacking off the carriers they expand their area "coverage". OH but the power company will neglect to mention that when they give you their "they only transmit 4 times a day" speil. sure they are only transmitting THEIR data 4 times a day, but the other 98% of the day the thing is still running full blast transmitting cell phone data. the things are literally mini-cell towers...

oh yah. i dedicate this thread to the Department of Homeland Security.



Google - CELLDAR

reply to post by RelentlessLurker


There has been small protests every week in my small piratey town of California - Luckily my town consists of retired activists of the 70's - so they know how to do it right.

These things aren't evil - they are stupid and unnecessary, a scam and a half, and an invasion of privacy as well as foundation for further invasions of privacy.

OK Interesting information,
My question's would be:
1. how do we capture its emitting freq.
Would our meters show on a wifi scan as an encrypted network?

2.What can we use to log the data it is transmitting?.
I can picture a wifi device hooked to a 8515 chip an some emulation going on.

reply to post by RelentlessLurker


I luv it
Will definately work with this one. You replied a few times in my thread big brothe and smart meters.
Just a cathupon where i am with the electric company. My husband called asked if he had a smart meter they said no you have a TERM meter, he was pleased (such a sheeple he is) and accepted their word. We have a family emergency that is making us go to california for a month or two, husbands mother 82 broke her hip not good, anyhow, so I call the electric company, ( know this is the day after he called which is today) to ask them to send our bill via e-mail. Finished that business the lady said can I help you with anythign else, me< well actually yes man you can, My meter what is it a smart meter, she said no, I said what is the spellit out for me, she said it is a TERM mter, I sadi to her, is it digital she said yes, once a month they click the internet and it sends the feed back to them, I said wait a minute, this is the smart meter technology, she said, well it is nto a actual smart meter itself but yes itis a smart meter, im like what the hu???? I told her I want it out, she said I cant I said yes I can because there are laws to protect us from beign sucked by utility companys, i went on to say, lucky you today is a bad day for me we have to prepare to go be with my husbands critically ill mother in another state, I told her but dont forget me because this is not over by a long shot, I said, I wont have your planes going over my house watching me shower or (private private). SHe told me she was recording me and would immediately bring this to her supervisor, and when i return they will have theri resolution fo rme. I told her whatever you say it is going when i get back even if it means getting an attorney, I also informed her I woudl go public with their misdeeds.
I have a cause, to rid the viscous cycle of deception our corporatees and elites infringe upon us.
Im goign to go to all 25 resdience out here and ask about theri electric bills ask if they feel they are higher, TRY to inform them what it is that is happening...I have a cause..peace

I read some where that the company that made the meters for them guranteed them more revenue from the installation of the new meters. I know our bill increased BIG TIME when mine went in.

reply to post by lbndhr


sounds a lot like how my first conversation went. i spoke with many people and got a whole variety of replies everything from "we'll let you know" to " you cant de-install a smart meter" to "if you tamper with it we will shut off your power"


i kept on calling them back everyday. she kept telling me she had to get ahold of her supervisor. then one day i got a call from the "manager of deployment" for the smart meters. he was polite unlike the others but didnt know squat about the things (but wanted to pretend like he did)

i took a different angle and said i had health concerns for my 90 year old grandmother whos room happens to be on the other side of the meter.

heres a few things you can say to let them know your not a chump and you know what your talking about.

1) you have a milliguass meter and have been continually testing its emissions and they exceed your comfort level. they may respond with it only is readable up to 10 feet. tell them thats 10 feet more than your comfortable with.

2) its emitting MICROWAVE radiation. yes the same microwave radiation the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION recently classified as CARCINOGENIC (cell phones). they may try to say it operates on 900mhz which is in the radio spectrum. then ask them why your EMF counter is registering in the 2.4ghz range which is in the microwave end of the radio spectrum.

3) tell them to choose their wording carefully as your ALSO recording the call from YOUR end as a pre-tense for a lawsuit. then ask them if they are aware of the recent court rulings against Pacific gas an electric in California. are they aware of the precedent that has been set and subsequent court mandate for an opt-out program in the state of california.

4) ask them if they have received any federal funds/grants to participate in and implement the program

they have a written little speil to calm you down for the health concerns.it basically trys to convince you that microwave radiation is ok as long as its in small amounts. go ahead and interrupt them in the middle of it and ask them if its ok to ingest Led as long as its in small amounts. then remind them how ridiculous that actually sounds, and that youd prefer to live a long cancer free life.

also if you have the GE model and they try to tell you it operates on half a watt of power (the same as a cell phone) tell them that it says right on the front of the thing it operates on 3 watts. which is significantly more than they are claiming.

reply to post by hbarker


you know, i had a feeling that was the case.

based on everybody ive asked (and i mean everybody...) the initial bill hikes have been significant enough to seemingly pay for the entire program.

i also found it woefully obvious that i was under surveillance. i moved from california to Oklahoma (where i was hoping i could dodge them for a while) and they sent this "contractor" out to install one WITHIN A WEEK OF MY ARRIVAL.

not anybody else on our street. just our house. everyone else came weeks later.

first thing i did was ask every single neighbor i could get to speak with me if they had recognized the planes before my arrival. they said there were absolutely none...maybe 1 every week or so. now they have multiple sweeping the city all day everyday. the same exact models i was seeing in california.

the people in California didnt give a damn about the planes or notice because they see so many (bay area). but the oki's out here seem pretty concerned ever since they noticed the planes.

Originally posted by hbarker
OK Interesting information,
My question's would be:
1. how do we capture its emitting freq.
Would our meters show on a wifi scan as an encrypted network?

2.What can we use to log the data it is transmitting?.
I can picture a wifi device hooked to a 8515 chip an some emulation going on.

yes, in something like wifi-radar it will show up under "mode" as "unknown/bug". the essid can vary. other programs dont pick it up at all. channel 0.

i believe wireshark will work if configured properly. maybe even kismet. ive yet to try because your window of opportunity isnt very large. and according to the power companies they transmit at random times. im not sure i believe that but who knows...im not to keen on leaving my netbook out there in the yard all day to log it but ill get around to it eventually.

all the security companies that have attempted to hack it so far say that it isnt very hard, and all you need is a laptop. so im basing my assumptions on that.

supposedly you can turn the power on and off, and program them to do so at certain times. and also see the usage.

some one who knows how to do it.
needs to drive about and program them to think
the power use is -1,000,000,000 for ever house.
and do other crazy things to them.
you can sheild the side of the meter your house is on.
they you dont get cancer. and they can not see you.
but they should still get a meter reading.

reply to post by RelentlessLurker


this has become sort of a "open liner" of mine, but "I'm trippin' out" yet again LOL because just a few days ago I investigated for the first time this whole "conspiracy" with smart meters. Being in city where smart meters have been in place for a number of years now, the thought hadn't really crossed my mind but I have seen/heard negative things about them and was never really driven to look into it further. Anyways, a few days ago I came across an informative thread here on ATS and the mention of small/single engine low flying planes being directly linked to these smart meters and the frequency they transmit data in triggered something in me. I've noticed for quite some time now that there have been small planes flying DIRECTLY over my house, and not too long ago (it's currently 2:33am), less than an hour ago a small single engine plane flew right over my house directly above my skylight less than 100 ft. in the air flying from North to South in some what cloudy weather.

I've noticed these planes come and circle around during the day and seemingly go nowhere really... I really hope I'm just being SUPER paranoid here but I keep getting stronger and stronger suspicions that I'm being watched

Just wanted to say props for the great timing of this thread and the even greater info

Originally posted by buddha
some one who knows how to do it.
needs to drive about and program them to think
the power use is -1,000,000,000 for ever house.
and do other crazy things to them.
you can sheild the side of the meter your house is on.
they you dont get cancer. and they can not see you.
but they should still get a meter reading.

Can anybody else PLEASE elaborate on the actual risks of cancer coming from these smart meters??? My mother is currently battling (and losing) cancer at the moment... any help/information would greatly be appreciated.

reply to post by RelentlessLurker


Thanks for this speach you have given to to aide in my battle. As with health issues I have a thing know called extreme Migraines, debilitating Migraines.
I appreciate your help and thank you deeply...peace

Edit to add...it is a GE meter

reply to post by Nastradamus


I wouldnt be paranoid that someone is watching you specifically. It would be more of a data mining operation in my opinion. They will monitor what you use for appliances and your sleep habits to do tarrgeted advertising. Now whaat we need is someone who would be able to capture any traffic these planes may be generating.... This whole smart meter thing reeks of invasion of privacy big time

It's electronic.

Get a big magnet.


No just kidding...

There is fabric material you can buy that blocks EMF.

Look at where the transmitter is....and their receiver. Use the fabric in a manor which will block the transmission path. If you're really good...they'll never find it or figure out what you did.

And have to check it manually every month.

reply to post by Victor03


since when has law enforcement been in the data mining business?

are you aware that civilian crafts are forbidden at these altitudes? they are reserved for law enforcement and military only.

reply to post by RelentlessLurker


DUDE! A [snip] single engine plane flew directly over the skylight in my room no more than 100ft in the air (yes, it was freaking low as hell) and it was a bit past 1am (today) flying in cloudy weather... I should have taken a few baseballs and tryed chucking them at the plane as it came by... I followed it's path as it was coming in, saw how it passed directly above me, went straight for about 20 seconds and banked slowly to the east as it kept going south...

reply to post by Nastradamus


your not being paranoid, and it isnt just you.

the meters operate on 3 watts of power which is a radius of (approx) 100 feet. when they get that close they are communicating directly with the meter. meaning data of some kind is being transferred.

keep in mind they can still utilize CELLDAR imaging from much higher altitudes.


when i made it (very) clear to them that i was aware, they started doing things like turning off their engine before they came within the vicinity of my house, and glide over silently, then they would kick the engine back on after passing a safe audible distance.

i kept in contact with friends that lived off in the direction i would see them go(not far, just out of line-of-sight visual range) and he confirmed that they would turn around and fly back towards my house. mind you i did this via word of mouth as i quickly figured out anytime i tryed to organize something with other people over the phone the planes would then magicly not show up.

they were there everytime i left the house. and would follow me to wherever i went.

if you want to try a little experiment, get on your bike(not car) and ride off to an area where there are no smart meters or cell towers. you will surely have a plane accompanying you for the duration of your trip.

upon discovery of their scrambling behavior whenever i would attempt to leave the smart meter grid, i went and bought a map of my area, and mapped out a little bike trail that went along a creek that runs through the city. it was my little "grid-less highway" and whenever i would make a bolt for the creek there would suddenly be 3 or 4 planes doing sweeps in unisyn over my neighborhood.

one time i took the creek to a lake i sat there at the lake, and watched them doing sweeps over the neighborhood (i assume looking for me) for hours .

reply to post by Nastradamus


i keep a camera near the door, and a small pair of binoculars. i run out like a madman the second i hear that low hummm and take pictures, ive caught them in that low pass several times, got some great shots. when i develop them ill upload them to ats

one time before i started using the camera and binocs. i was watching it fly off and it (what looked like) SPRAYED or EJECTED some kind of white ball or something out of the tail. and the faint white ball sat there and floated in the same spot for about 15 minutes before i couldnt see it anymore (it was far off and hard to see, and i ran in to get family memebrs to come see) when i came back i couldnt see it.

that day i went and bought a small pair of binoculars, because if i had them at the time i would have been able to see what in the hell it was.

you can learn to track them using a scanner radio, but its difficult if you have a lot of other air traffic or live near multiple airports.

Originally posted by Nastradamus

Can anybody else PLEASE elaborate on the actual risks of cancer coming from these smart meters??? My mother is currently battling (and losing) cancer at the moment... any help/information would greatly be appreciated.

edit on 1-9-2011 by Nastradamus because: (no reason given)

certainly.

its the same health risks as a cell phone. only the meter is a higher power than a cell phone so the "danger zone" is larger.

now given you dont hold a smart meter directly up to your head...many people have bedrooms on the other side of the meter. some even have their bed against the same wall and sleep only a few feet from the meter. in a case like this your being radiated throughout your (8 hours?) of sleep. would you hold a cell phone to your head for 8 hours?

when i lived in california i lived in a small complex of town houses (condos). i was unemployed when they put these in and was home the entire day. i didnt realize that sitting in my living room i was within the radius of 6 of these meters (neighbor in every direction and all close proximity).

in a case like this i was receiving a significant amount of constant radiation throughout the day and night. microwave radiation is a carcinogen.that means it causes or promotes cancer. that is what these emit.

if it were me and i was battling cancer, i would not spend the majority of my time around these things.

if you want to do a little experiment and see for yourself. go find one of those big cell towers, and go take a peak at the vegetation around it. chances are they will be either dead, dying, or mutated. this is what occurs on a smaller scale so to speak, with the meters.

microwave radiation, is microwave radiation, is microwave radiation. the same microwave radiation that cooks your food.

Still very interested in logging the meters output,,

Any help in that area would be appreciated .your welcome to pm me.

many people have (as I do) there router's sitting within this things range.
Could they be 'without our consent" using our own data service that we are paying for to
transfer the data thru the net?
If so thats illegal inst it?

i was able to find the following useing google.

-They accept new firmware without any authentication
-There is no encryption
-They use insecure programming functions such as memcpy() and strcpy() (two of the most commonly exploited)
-RAM can be physically accessed using syringe(s)