Lawsuit: Sacramento utility company targeted Asians in pot searches

Extraordinary use of electricity has long been a telltale sign of illegal grow houses producing thousands of marijuana plants hidden in seemingly ordinary homes. But a lawsuit filed by a data privacy watchdog says a Northern California utility went too far by racially profiling Asian communities as it routinely fed customers' power use information to police without requiring a warrant or any suspicion of wrongdoing, in violation of state laws. The data disclosure deliberately targeted Asian Americans, with resulting disproportionate penalties against those of Asian descent, the suit says.