Category Archives: utilities

Lege TREND. Data Miner Regulations. Legislation proposal.

How a state can legislatively protect its residents from data miners:

  • apply laws not only to 3rd party data miners but also 1st party data miners that do have a direct relationship with consumers such as:
    • retailers
    • social media companies

Also, what is a data miner? an entity or person that collects and sells personal information from consumers with whom the broker has no direct relationship

 

Electronic Fronteir Foundation | Vermont’s New Data Privacy Law

Lege Trend. Legislation to Regulate Data BROKERS. 5 Point Legislative Plan.

States can enacted legislation to address Data Broikers by:

  • impose a fiduciary duty towards the consumers whose data they harvest and monetize
  • establish a government office to assist the victims of data breaches
  • compensation for their financial & non-financial injuries 
  • require disclosures by data brokers like:
    •  consumer’s “right to know” what personal information a data broker has gathered
    •  how the broker obtained it
    • to whom they sold it
  •  require consumer consent for data…

Lege Trend. An internet bill of rights? Hello all tech & telecom: this one is for you. Marketing and data limits.

Activists are promoting an Internet bIll of Rights, the kind of bill state legislatures love. What would it do?

  • Keeping your “browsing history” private
    • ​Except: fraud or potential crimes  
  • Full disclosure when being monitored, and the right to opt out
  • Preserving the privacy of your social media accounts.
  • Ownership of your personal, digital content
  • Notification of injurious data breaches
  • Fair play on social media platforms and/or internet providers
  • Protecting children on social media

    • …

Regulatory TREND. More Data Sharing Requirements. Cyber Threat Reporting. 3 Supporting Arguments

DOE Secretary Perry looks to DOUBLE the number of utilties sharing cyberthreat information.

Why?

  • Close collaboration between DOE and utiltiies helped thwart utilty cyber attacks last year
  • DOE is increasing its cyber security efforts
  • “We’re leading by example, by strengthening protection and response capabilities for our own power marketing administrations that fall under the DOE’s supervision,” Perry said.

FCW | DOE looks to double number of electric utilities sharing cyber threat data

 

Local Trend. Cyber Security for the Internet of Things. Where Utilities and Cities Intersect.

A Navigant research report on cyber security of utilities and the grid broadened cyber security to smart meters.

The suggested recommendations for smart meter cyber security:

  • robust security strategy
  • clear breach response plan
  • providing strong and constant security training to all employees

State Tech | Where Smart Utilities Meet Cybersecurity

3 Ways Crypto Currency can Increase Capacity for Renewables

  • “By running off electricity that would otherwise be curtailed because of low demand, crypto-mining could allow more clean energy to be profitably built on the grid”
  • Texas has been a leader in dealing with intermitancy that can power crytocurrency
    • Texas “competitive renewable electricity zones”  
      • average wind curtailment in Texas decreased from over 16% to less than 2%
      • wind generation more than doubled
    • private investment in energy storage
  • flexible demand option for crypto currency…

Lege Trend. Create a nonprofit + Partner with a Univeristy Law School = Legislative & Regulatory Recommendations

State: Vermont

Grid Security Partners:

  • Protect Our Power, an independent, nonprofit organization
  • The Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School

Goal of Partnership: to make the grid more resistant to physical or cyber threats & to improve its ability to restore power quickly in the event of an attack

Outcome: offer regulatory and legislative proposals

Valley News | Vermont Law School Team to Research Electrical Grid Security

Business Trend. Smart Cities + Energy Storage = Municipal Cloud Storage

The companies : Blink Charging & Israeli smart city developer Ya’acobi Brothers Group

The benefits of EV Charging via City Infrastructure:

  • Enable smart city infrastructure
  • Permits integration with wif-fi, cloud networks, cameras for city data management

Utility Dive | Blink eyes significant EV charging expansion via smart streetlights

Utility tokens. Bit Coin + Energy. 3 Bits informed intel:

  • Utility tokens are a hot commodity among bitcoin currencies
  • Why are utility tokens popular?
    • some think they offer legal protection from regulatory schemes
    • others think utility tokens are key to block chain’s future
  • Utlity tokens will most likely be regulated by the SEC and State Securities Boards

Texas Lawyer | Ready Player One? Avoid Getting Played on Utility Tokens