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Current-Cost This is just a quick note to spotlight the fact that Home.API now has native support for the Current Cost EnviR smartmeter.

Setting it up

Check out the latest version of Home.API from the Github repository, and then attach the plugin to an endpoint by adding a definition to a .conf file in your def directory. E.g.

# Current cost envir
/power/smartmeter
     class \power\smartmeters\CurrentCostEnviR

This will install the plugin using the default parameters, but you can override these by specifying them in your definition. Available parameters are:

  • port, which defaults to '/dev/ttyUSB0'
  • baud, the baud rate to connect to, defaulting to 57600
  • timeout, defaulting to 10 seconds.

Your Current cost meter should be connected to the same machine as your Home.API install, and the web server user granted access to the comm port the device is connected to.

Exposed API

Once you have enabled the Current Cost plugin, you should see a new entry appear on your Home.API dashboard which gives a quick summary of the information retrieved from the device. It also makes available a number of functions which you can query at your endpoint (http://home.api/api/path/to/endpoint/), and these are:

  • time.json: Retrieve the time from the device.
  • temp.json: Retrieve the temperature from the device.
  • power.json: Retrieve the power in watts from the device.
  • latest.json: Retrieve all of the above at once, and return them as an array.

Visit the endpoint in your browser and see it working!

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So, earlier today I wrote that we as technologists should take the pledge to help educate and protect our friends and neighbours, but as I said the real solution isn’t a technological one.

My friend Ben Werdmuller makes this point far more eloquently than I could; it’s time to get involved, politically. You can’t afford not to.

As Ben suggests, I have updated my about page with details about my data jurisdiction, so people can make an informed decision about how and whether to get in contact.

I encourage you to do the same…

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Today, Groklaw, a site responsible for, among other things, victory in the SCO patent troll attack on the Linux kernel, followed Lavabit and shut it’s doors. It did so because there is now no way to communicate securely on the internet; traffic is routinely intercepted, servers can be stolen and operators forced to reveal confidential sources.

This is the world we live in, and have been living in for a while now, but thanks to a whistleblower we are all forced to confront this reality.

So, as technologists, what can we do to protect ourselves and our loved ones?

Truth is there is no silver bullet, but that doesn’t mean we just give up and go home. While the technology is only a small part of the issue here, it is something that we as technologists and makers are in a position to do things about.

While we work to solve the political problems that have caused this current situation, I think that we need to work towards making cryptography ubiquitous. Analysis of some of the leaked material already suggests that if the level of cryptographic content was raised, it would raise the cost of analysis by government agencies to an impractical level, and at the very least we’d remove “use of encryption” as grounds for suspicion.

When we build systems we need to decentralise, so there’s no one server and operator to intimidate. We need to protect content and metadata, because who talked to whom, and where, is still sensitive information. We need to work on the UX of the systems that are available, so that cryptography isn’t something someone who just wants to use the computer needs to think about. Think of these sorts of things as safety equipment, like seat belts or airbags. They should just work, without the operator having a degree.

Don’t be this guy.

We needed to think about this stuff before the first sharpie hit the paper.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda….

In the mean-time, we need to use the tools that we have. Make security and cryptography ubiquitous. As technologists, we have the knowledge to protect ourselves (and if you’re not already, you’ve got no excuse), but we also have a duty to help our friends, neighbours and family as well.

So, encourage your friends to use encrypted email and OTR messaging on IM, explain why it’s important while helping them install and use the plugin. Install HTTPS Everywhere on your mum’s computer. Talk to your neighbours about the dangers of the guilt by association fallacy in relation to communication metadata while installing the TOR browser bundle on their laptop.

You get the idea, friends don’t let friends use cleartext!