Using granular smart metering data it is possible to identify multimedia content by analyzing smart meter generated consumption data. We will discuss our findings at the conference Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP 2012) on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 in Brussels, Belgium.
Our research shows that the analysis of the household’s electricity usage profile at a 2s sample rate does reveal what content was displayed on a CRT, a Plasma display TV or a LCD television set with dynamic backlighting. Our test results show that two 5 minutes-chunks of consecutive viewing without major interference by other appliances is sufficient to identify the content (e. g. DVD movie).
A preprint online publication can be found here (PDF).