Sacramento Surveillance

I’ve been reading about the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District (SMUD) providing energy usage data to the police. The idea is that supposedly high usage can identify illicit growing of cannabis. However, SMUD’s own analysts reported that the allegedly high energy usage could just be caused by having a large house, air conditioners, or a variety of perfectly legitimate reasons. Instead of working for the benefit of the public they’re supposed to serve, SMUD and the police actively engaged in illegal surveillance that caused real harm to innocent citizens.1 2 3

I was a little taken aback that even energy usage would be used for surveillance, which probably speaks to my continuing naiveté (or denial) more than anything else.

Citizens need protections even from local governments and law enforcement. Privacy rights require continued, assertive defense.
This is, sadly, another example of organizations with significant concentrations of power not being trustworthy.

  1. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/when-your-power-meter-becomes-tool-mass-surveillance ↩︎

  2. https://reason.com/2025/07/23/sacramento-uses-smart-electric-meters-to-spy-on-residents/ ↩︎

  3. https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article266124221.html ↩︎