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In case they haven't sprung up in your territory yet, smart meter detractors and grid modernization malefactors are out there and are making more noise every day. And the press amplifies it like it's the finding of the century. These people see a dark cloud in every silver lining springing up around them, and the arch villain, as usual, is technology. I don't believe they are pretenders – far from it. They honestly believe that technology is hurting their bodies, stealing their personal secrets, and putting their finances at risk.

But maybe they should they should move that cell phone away from their heads before calling out the danger of radio waves from a new device on the side of their houses. Before worrying that utilities are going to rob them of their privacy, they might want to reflect that their privacy has already been bought and sold via their online retailers, banks, cable companies, social media sites, etc. And heavily regulated utilities are no more likely to rob them blind than is the Postal Service.

I think Luddites give technology too much credit. I'm sometimes just as skeptical that smart meters and other smart grid components will cause alarmingly great good as I am that they'll cause great harm. What if someone claimed smart meters transformed them from a 98 pound weakling to Charles Atlas? Or that smart phones raised their children's IQ 40 points (some do, BTW)? We would have to throw the BS flag on those just as fast as on the doom-and-gloomers.

Since I've been covering their emergence, smart meters have been alleged to do some or all of the following:

·         Cause confusion or brain cancer

·         Facilitate attack by foreign nations

·         Help utilities get rich by cranking up rates forever

·         Give Barack Obama control of your house

·         Signal criminals when your house is ready to be robbed

·         Reveal to the government when you're doing naughty things

·         Reduce fertility in laboratory mice

These stories pop up all over, but here are the latest from Maine and California. And lest you think this is a phenomenon unique to the USA alone, here's a vigilant gentleman chiming in from north of the border:

... these so-called 'smart meters' may be deliberately 'tricked' to register a higher consumption reading than is actually true. Obviously, this would produce more revenue for the greedy utilities and the greedy governments which are constantly looking for new ways to screw the people.

Well said Sir! And tell you what – if after reading this you find yourself converted, you can go HERE for all your anti-smart meter propaganda needs including bumper stickers and yard signs.

We're trying to update the grid for the 21st century: bringing better efficiencies, improving reliability, and enabling greatly increased use of renewables and EVs, and this is the response from some folks.

As Charlie Brown used to say, "good grief."  OK, let's get back to work.

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Andy Bochman and Jack Danahy are authors of the Smart Grid Security Blog.