SmartPrivacy for the Smart Grid: embedding privacy into the design of electricity conservation

The 2003 blackout in the northern and eastern U.S. and Canada which caused a $6 billion loss in economic revenue is one of many indicators that the current electrical grid is outdated. Not only must the grid become more reliable, itmust also become more efficient, reduce its impact on the environment, incorporate alternative energy sources, allow for more consumer choices, and ensure cyber security. In effect, it must become “smart.” Significant investments in the billions of dollars are being made to lay the infrastructure of the future Smart Grid. However, the authors argue that we must take great care not to sacrifice consumer privacy amidst an atmosphere of unbridled enthusiasm for electricity reform. Information proliferation, lax controls and insufficient oversight of this information could lead to unprecedented invasions of consumer privacy. Smart meters and smart appliances will constitute a data explosion of intimate details of daily life, and it is not yet clear who will have access to this information beyond a person’s utility provider. The authors of this paper urge the adoption ofDr. Ann Cavoukian’s conceptualmodel ‘SmartPrivacy’ to prevent potential invasions ofprivacy while ensuring full functionality of the Smart Grid. SmartPrivacy represents abroad arsenal of protections, encapsulating everything necessary to ensure that all of thepersonal information held by an organization is appropriately managed. These include: Privacy by Design; law, regulation and independent oversight; accountability andtransparency; market forces, education and awareness; audit and control; data security; and fair information practices. Each of these elements is important, but the concept ofPrivacy by Design represents its sine qua non. When applying SmartPrivacy to theSmart Grid, not only will the grid be able to, for example, become increasingly resistantto attack and natural disasters—it will be able to do so while also becoming increasinglyresistant to data leakage and breaches of personal information. The authors conclude thatSmartPrivacy must be built into the SmartGrid during its current nascent stage, allowingfor both consumer control of electricity consumption and consumer control of theirpersonal information, which must go hand in hand. Doing so will ensure that consumerconfidence and trust is gained, and that their participation in the Smart Grid contributesto the vision of creating a more efficient and environmentally friendly electrical grid, aswell as one that is protective of privacy. This will result in a positive-sum outcome, where both environmental efficiency and privacy can coexist