Personally I think it's crazy to use any "smart" options even if you are 100% legal. Everything is tracked and you have no clue who is accessing that data that will have enough personal info for even a basement dweeb to find out the exact location of your grow.
Smart meters track every kilowatt your house uses with timing down to the 100th of a second and any smart device sends it's info so they know what equipment is on or off at any given time. Digital ballasts? Send your info directly to LEO as it's there for the taking. Just that 18/6 or 12/12 cycle is enough to get flagged at some power companies and you won't fool them with 17.5/6.5 timing either.
In Alberta where I live we are on the good old analog meters and I could easily increase my power usage 10 fold without any questions as long as the bill is paid on time. I'm also wired for light industrial and have farm status so that helps.
I'm an old fart and very protective of my privacy which the yunguns just don't seem to care about. It's true that if you got nothing to hide then who cares who knows about every minute detail of your life because you post it on social media anyways!
When they first brought in Social Security Numbers after WWII vets like my dad fought against that because to them it was just the same as the numbers tattooed on the arms of so many Jewish causalities of Hitler's genocidal march across Europe.
Gov't says no-no it's just to keep track of your deductions from your paycheck to support the social safety net and not anything else. Now when you are needing ID for credit cards etc they ask for your SIN. They don't get it from me unless I just got hired for a job where it's pertinent. The millennials will give it to anyone that asks and it's one of the main things ID thieves need to steal your ID.
And now the cashless society is big on the gov'ts agenda. Hard to hide criminal activities when every transaction is on a database somewhere. The big guys know how to work around that to hide their wealth but you and me are f'ed!
Micro-chipping babies is another new tech being used in NZ or Auz I think. Birth to grave with literally everything you do on record. Not long before the thought police get rockin'.
The war for your freedoms is being lost without even a squeak of protest much less a shot.
