A-Infos (en) France, Alternative Libertaire AL Septembre - Linky: If it's free, it's you the product! (fr, it, pt) [machine translation]

All French housing will soon be affected by the replacement - free - our traditional 
meters with "smart" meters. pollution devices, connected meters are mainly direct access 
to personal data which represent a huge market. ---- The "smart" meters will soon invade 
our homes. This will start with electricity meters, the well known Linky (EDF), whose 
establishment in France is estimated at 5 billion euros in 2020; Then come the gas meters 
Gazpar (GrDF-Engie); and longer-term ones with water Consospy. All will be connected to 
the Internet by radio, that is to say, wireless, and therefore to permanently searchable 
distance, with any additional waves thereon, and thousands of new antennas.

Among the risks involved in these new meters connected, it is perhaps less known but more 
dangerous forward: it is their ability to "spy" permanently living habits and consumption 
of each and everyone, and accumulation of personal data that results. Indeed, the global 
market of personal data is growing, it is the new "black gold" of the digital economy of 
the twenty-first century. This data is the basis of the economic model of giants like 
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple, etc., because they allow to "target" the best 
all consumers for any product or activity whatsoever. This data is collected continuously 
in huge big data centers and specialized companies, data brokers (currently 270 in the 
world), are in charge of world trade in personal data files on the basis of "customer 
value life" (VVC). This value corresponds to the sum of the average expected profits on 
the life of a typical customer. For the European Union, all the personal data of its 
entire population has been estimated at EUR 315 billion in 2011 by the Boston Consulting 
Group (BCG), and the estimate for 2020 reached 1000 billion light the growth of the 
digital economy.

If the "value" of the basic data of an individual (age, gender, address) is only around 
one euro on the world market, it does not hold true thinner profile data of consumers and 
consumers. According to a BCG study in 2013, an individual currently living in Europe 
"worth" on average 600 euro on the world market personal data exchange. Among the fine 
data, notes: the origins, education level, marital status, number of children, occupation, 
income, daily living habits, possession of smartphones, various consumption (tobacco, 
alcohol, and therefore water, gas and electricity), interests, health problems, any 
insomnia ...

No to Big Brother society

And everything is good to collect, to the point that, today, a semi-occult La Poste 
participates service, reselling data, good corporate financial health. In this context, 
the connected meters are a bargain and they will precede little future appliances "smart" 
(that is to say also connected) as well as "smart" purchases (that is to say, chipped and 
remote searchable, like the coffee packet of your favorite brand interrogated in your 
closet by a retail giant).

Can we oppose these changes? In theory, no, for the simple reason that neither our nor our 
electric meter gas meter not belong to us, they are the property of the municipality or 
the community of municipalities. For water meters, they are rented us for prices read on 
our bills and certainly minimal, but to millions of copies. The lessor is either the 
company (private) delegated public service water (among the big three: Veolia, Suez 
Engie-Saur) or the town in case of municipal governance. So that only a consideration at 
the city level can prevent the replacement of our counters. In late July 2016, 230 
municipalities have passed such deliberation (which for most, Caen, 110 and 000 
inhabitants). A national decision of refusal as in Germany and Belgium may also do the 
trick. True, voices such as the League of Human Rights are heard to ask the National Data 
Processing and Liberties Commission (CNIL), French supervisory authority for personal data 
protection, check the compliance "compliance package" proposed by EDF regarding the Linky; 
and they demand a moratorium on the current deployment of Linky as concrete and effective 
against-fires are not implemented. The "intelligence service" is an unhealthy trap, reject 
monitoring and commodification of our lives.

Daniel warrior subscriber to gas and electricity

http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Linky-Si-c-est-gratuit-c-est-vous
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://lists.ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en