Smart grid data must be protected: privacy czar

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The time you jump into the shower in the morning, the time you finally flick off that TV at night – even the time you set your home security alarm.

OntarioÂ’s privacy czar wants to keep the information secret.

Personal privacy must remain paramount as the “smart grid” electricity system is built around the province, said Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner.

As the grid collects information on power usage and smart meters are installed in Ontario homes to track consumption data, that personal information could represent a treasure trove for hackers, thieves or marketers, said Cavoukian, in her annual report entitled Access & Privacy, A Time for Innovation.

“Imagine the enormous interest in this information - not only by marketers and companies but unauthorized third parties like the bad guys, thieves who’ll know when you are not at home,” Cavoukian said in an interview.

Now is the time to continue to install privacy safeguards around the grid as it grows, she said.

So far, Ontario is “leading the game,” she said. But the modernization of the grid is in its infancy and if vigilance isn’t maintained, personal habits could become everyone’s business.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid said he is taking Cavoukian’s advice “very seriously” and is already putting measures in place by controlling who has access to the information.

“We’ve taken the advice of the privacy commissioner upfront before the smart grid is even put in place,” he said.

Yet before the switch was flicked on the program, all bases should have been examined and covered, said Progressive Conservative energy critic MPP John Yakabuski.

“We’ve talked about them having a serious rethink about smart meters from the get go and every day we find more reasons why they should be doing that,” Yakabuski said. “It’s time for a pause and to take a look at the full affect.”

The infrastructure supporting the smart grid system will be soon capable of letting consumers know their hourly and real-time energy use, Cavoukian said. “They can develop patterns of behavior when you are away from the home,” she said. “This thing has to be protected like Fort Knox.”

In the not so distant future, “smart” appliances will be able to send in even more gritty details on how we live our lives to companies that provide electrical power. The sharing of that data should concern consumers, Cavoukian said.

“Think about every single appliance in your house reporting, in real time, your energy use. What will develop over time is a library of personal information relating to a profile of your personal energy use. When you watch TV, what time of day, when you eat, when you sleep and wake,” she said. “That says a lot of the activities of a household.”

Ontario must stay proactive on this, she said. “Right now is the ideal time to insure no one gets this information other than the people who get it now – Toronto Hydro and Hydro One.”

The privacy commissioner is working with Toronto Hydro and Hydro One on how electrical companies should set standards. The companies will not give out any personal hydro data without the consent of the consumer, she said.

“This is a treasure trove of information. We want to make sure privacy is the default.”

Toronto Hydro has run into privacy problems before.

Last year, Toronto police launched an investigation after nearly 179,000 customer account numbers were illegally accessed in the companyÂ’s e-billing system.