Editor:
Re: Eliminating grow-ops (letter in the Jan. 4 issue of the Grand Forks Gazette)
It appears that your recent letter writer advocating the use of smart meters and the ability to shut down grow-ops has not been in touch with IT specialists of members of the grow-op community.
Far from reducing the number of grow-ops, there is a possibility that the number will increase because of the Smart meters.
The majority of grow-ops that steal power take it before the meter; the Smart meters will not prevent this form of theft.
The Smart meters add to the range of theft options by being hackable (don’t believe that bank level IT security is unhackable – it just doesn’t tell the public when it is hacked).
Not only can the meters be hacked, one could reverse the process and have BC Hydro record any amount of power for the month they wish – they could even have a negative balance for selling “non-existent power” back to BC Hydro.
With the amount of money in grow-ops, it is only a matter of time until some grow-op operators and IT specialists join forces.
On the subject of “I doubt people are still using the same appliances, that were around in the 1940,” if they still work and are doing the job, why spend $1 billion-plus to fix what is not broken?
Houses built long before 1940 are still habitable, aren’t they?
Norm Ryder, Victoria, B.C.
