Home Improvement → Re: Eversense or Nest thermostats

So they can't image an area at all unless they have a warrant? Just like they can't drive by snooping for open wifi connections to snoop later.
Guess I'll put the tin foil hat away and not worry any longer about the low flying aircraft at night buzzing around the area during the spring and summer months. Ya, I'll trust the government is following the letter of the law.

I can only refer you what the Supreme Court ruled in Kyllo v. United States

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky ··· d_States

Interesting though that you are worried about thermal imaging to pinpoint a house to examine utility records when evidently law enforcement can get the neighborhood's or city's electric records with little to no effort.

"Cory Borgeson, president of the Golden Valley Electric Co. in Fairbanks, Alaska, told NPR he is stunned at how easily the government can obtain personal information with subpoenas. For instance, agents at the Drug Enforcement Administration wondered if some of Golden Valley's customers might be making or growing drugs in their homes. Drug dealers sometimes use more electricity than normal, and their power consumption records can potentially be a clue. So the DEA served a subpoena on the utility, ordering it to turn over detailed digital records on its customers' electricity use, bank and credit card accounts, and other information. Borgeson says the standard for getting a subpoena is so low that it's essentially "one agent turning to [his or her colleague] and saying, 'Would you please sign this administrative subpoena for me so I can get information?' "

Golden Valley tried unsuccessfully to block the subpoena in court by arguing that the government needed a search warrant."

»www.npr.org/blogs/alltec ··· otect-us

So, to bring this back on topic, I really don't see how the usage patterns of a home thermostat could implicate a person beyond what is already available legally to the authorities.This is an illegal search and won't hold up in a court of law. But they can get the electric records easily so it makes no sense to think that they would compromise their investigation with a warrantless search when they already have access to the utility records directly and legally.