To the Editor:

1. In a “mess network,” usage data is transmitted from one “smart” meter and sent by wireless microwave radio signals on to the next house’s meter, and the next.

2. Although a neighbor may opt-out by keeping their analog meter, they will still be exposed to microwave radiation from surrounding meters. This is why it is so important for neighbors to come together and help each other.

3. Anyone whose outside wall has a “smart” meter, or who lives adjacent to banks of meters, suffers bursts of pulsed microwave radiation all day and night long.

4. Random homes get “collector meters,” through which data from hundreds of homes is funneled. Radiation exposure is dramatically multiplied for these families who are never informed that their meter is the “collector.”

5. The accumulated data is sent to the utility’s data collection unit on a telephone pole (maybe near your home), where it is sent on to a data collection company.

6. But first, the easily-hacked RF data may fall into the hands of hackers, who may be thieves or terrorists.

7. A third-party company hired by the utility receives detailed private data about your home activities — what appliances you use, how many people are at home, when you go to bed, when you go on vacation, etc.

8. The subcontractor analyzes the raw data and sends it on to the utility. With its “smart” ability to count every watt of usage as never before, the utility mails out higher bills that shock its “smart” meter customers.

9. In violation of your constitutional rights, police, government agencies and others have access to your lifestyle data without the need for a warrant.

Steve Smith, Phoenix