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A power utility is reporting suspected pot growers to cops. EFF says that’s illegal. (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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According to a motion the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed in Sacramento Superior Court last week, Nguyen and Decker are only two of more than 33,000 Sacramento-area people who have been flagged to the sheriff’s department by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the electricity provider for the region. SMUD called the customers out for using what it and department investigators said were suspiciously high amounts of electricity indicative of illegal cannabis farming.

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[–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You'd think with modern LED setups this would be null and void. It's quite wild to see a lot of older schooled growers still using sodium lamps and other high heat, high energy lighting fixtures and getting caught, wasting energy, etc.

Now days modern LEDs are multi fold more efficient. You'd also think that if someone was doing bad deeds illegally they'd be more inclined to stick to a more strict standard.

I guess criminals never did have much standards.. Organized crime excluded and even then some organized crime syndicates aren't fully organized in a manner that detection is impossible. They just aren't a nuisance enough to warrant the big league agencies. Local LEOs are definitely picking up new tech and evolving faster as the money rolls in these last 10 years.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Lighting is only part of the issue. In order to get a consistently reproducible product, growers also try to maintain a consistent temperature, humidity, and airflow. All of which quickly adds up to massive energy consumption. Weed grows best in mild humidity and pretty high temperatures. Which means that in the winter, they end up heating and humidifying the entire house to what would essentially be tropical levels. And in the summer, they’re worried about consistent airflow and dehumidifying. And dehumidifiers eat a lot of energy.

    There’s a reason cops use thermal imaging to find grow houses. Under infrared, they light up like a beacon. Cops can just fly a helicopter around town, and flag any houses that look abnormal:

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I know. And they do it now days with no warrants in the US which is supposed to be illegal. All other points are very valid.

    But generally lights don't equate heat with modern LEDs is all I was saying unlike old halogen or sodium bulbs.

    A lot of growers use basements which obscures a lot of thermal imaging. Including under ground shipping containers, cellars, and more. But your example images are spot on from real people that got caught. I still think profiling should be illegal and there should be some strict laws in place to catch criminals the right ways but rant for another time.

    Most modern people don't have access to all that advanced tech, don't care, feel it should be legal, poor, average. Not some criminal enterprise. Thanks for uploading the photos though for others to see.

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