Simon Fondrie-Teitler
LightNews LightNews
simon.overgrown.garden
Simon Fondrie-Teitler
@simon.overgrown.garden
850 followers 260 following 350 posts
🖥️🔒🚴‍♂️🍲

sft.01 on Signal
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
jehiah.cz
New Legislation from Senator Leroy Comey: S8605 - the "fraudulent social media advertising prevention act"

Requires social-media platforms to prevent/detect/remove fraudulent ads and establish advertiser-vetting obligations; required reporting to Attorney General

www.nysenate.gov/legislation/...
NY State Senate Bill 2025-S8605
Requires social-media platforms to prevent, detect, and remove fraudulent advertisements and to establish advertiser-vetting obligations; requires reporting to the attorney general.
www.nysenate.gov
December 8, 2025 at 1:45 AM
simon.overgrown.garden
This TikTok's biggest sin is referring to Kenji López-Alt as "someone from the New York Times"
jasonkoebler.bsky.social Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 1d
a type of content that makes me want to launch myself into space and is huge part of why everything is so bad: TikToker goes down a “rabbit hole,” makes 9-minute video. The “rabbit hole” was she found an Eater article. The Eater journalist did all the work: www.tiktok.com/t/ZTruBS8cp/
allow me to take you on a journey where, once again, we learn we have no idea what’s in our food. at least we know corporations are pure of heart so I’m sure it’s fine🫶🏼🤡
TikTok video by kaelin
www.tiktok.com
December 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
lkirchner.bsky.social
🚍👀 This new @simko-bednarski.bsky.social investigation is an important one
simko-bednarski.bsky.social Evan Simko-Bednarski @simko-bednarski.bsky.social · 1d
A bus on Staten Island lost control just before picking up Manhattan-bound passengers.

9 mo prior, mechanics found a steering flaw, but the bus was put in service.

My new investigation for the Daily News finds that hundreds of thousands of bus records are missing proof of repairs and inspections.
Missing data on bus repairs spark troubling questions about MTA fleet: investigation
Hundreds of thousands of work orders for NYC buses show no recorded labor hours by MTA maintenance crews — a finding that raises the possibility that buses are being put into service on New York Ci…
www.nydailynews.com
December 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
This is a really interesting article on daylighting that differentiates between parts of an intersection in a way that I've not seen previous analyses do.
Vital City | Daylight Savings: A Safer, Cheaper and Quicker Way to Design Intersections
How drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists can all get clearer views
www.vitalcitynyc.org
December 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
Kohler has dropped the "end-to-end encryption" language from their website. It now reads "data encryption at rest and in transit."
Screenshot of text. Heading says "Privacy Comes First" Under it in smaller letters says "Your data is personal. We designed Dekoda to help it stay that way, with authentication through our remote and data encryption at rest and in transit."
December 5, 2025 at 12:22 AM
simon.overgrown.garden
Extremely cool to have my blog written up by 404 Media!
mjgault.bsky.social Matthew Gault @mjgault.bsky.social · 3d
Kohler claims its smart toilets are end-to-end encrypted. They don't seem to understand what that phrase actually means
Kohler's Smart Toilet Camera Not Actually End-to-End Encrypted
Gives new meaning to the 'internet of shit.'
www.404media.co
December 4, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
mjgault.bsky.social
thank you to @simon.overgrown.garden for sharing his story and research with me
“I think everyone has a right to privacy, and in order for that to be realized people need to have an understanding of what's happening with their data,” Fondrie-Teitler said. “It's already so hard for non-technical individuals (and even tech experts) to evaluate the privacy and security of the software and devices they're using. E2EE doesn't guarantee privacy or security, but it's a non-trivial positive signal and losing that will only make it harder for people to maintain control over their data.”
December 4, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
mjgault.bsky.social
Kohler claims its smart toilets are end-to-end encrypted. They don't seem to understand what that phrase actually means
Kohler's Smart Toilet Camera Not Actually End-to-End Encrypted
Gives new meaning to the 'internet of shit.'
www.404media.co
December 4, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
neorsd.org
today in related news, between your end and ours our sewer network is secure but definitely not encrypted. we can see all the content you share.
Tech Crunch headline: ‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted
December 4, 2025 at 4:03 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
@leaflet.pub post authors don't have access to analytics, do they?
December 4, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
lorenzofb.bsky.social
NEW: Your "end-to-end encrypted" poop pictures taken by this $599 (+ subscription) smart toilet camera are actually not end-to-end encrypted.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

techcrunch.com/2025/12/03/e...
‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart toilet camera is not actually end-to-end encrypted | TechCrunch
Kohler, the makers of a smart toilet camera, can access customers' data stored on its servers, and can use customers’ bowl pictures to train AI.
techcrunch.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
theregister.com
Poop-peeping toilet attachment has a different definition of 'end-to-end' encryption
Poop-peeping toilet attachment has a different definition of 'end-to-end' encryption
Talk about enshittification No, this isn't a joke: Kohler's poop-scanning toilet attachment, which the company claims is … uh … end-to-end encrypted, appears to be anything butt.…
dlvr.it
December 3, 2025 at 6:06 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
Never change, Hell Gate
Screenshot of text. The first large block is a quote from an MTA OIG report, the 2nd is a quote from the Lana Del Ray song Video Games. Full text: OIG reviewed MNR purchase orders awarded to Vendor 1 for 2022, 2023, and 2024. Based on OIG’s analysis, in 2022, Vendor 1 was approved for 114 transactions with MNR, with a total value of approximately $871,490. The Procurement Officer was not associated with any of those transactions. In 2023, Vendor 1 was approved for 194 transactions with MNR, with a total value of approximately $3.37 million. The Procurement Officer was responsible for 140 of those transactions, worth 74% of the value. As discussed below and as attached as Appendix A, OIG identified many emails of a personal nature between the Procurement Officer and the Sales Agent, an employee of Vendor 1, during 2023, suggestive of a romantic relationship. In 2024, Vendor 1 was approved for 73 transactions with MNR, with a total value of approximately $877,930. The Procurement Officer was the buyer for 8 of those transactions, with a total value of approximately $96,000. 2 The Procurement Officer stepped away from direct purchasing activity to concentrate on other duties in early 2024. — MTA/OIG Report #2025-12, p. 4 It's you, it's you, it's all for you. Everything I do. I tell you all the time, Heaven is a place on earth with you. Tell me all the things you wanna do. I heard that you like the bad girls honey, is that true? — Lana Del Rey, "Video Games"
December 3, 2025 at 3:22 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
Kohler Health launched an AI camera in your toilet, promising end-to-end encryption to maintain privacy. But—contrary to common usage of the term—they have access to the user data, and reserve the right to use it to train AI models.
Kohler Can Access Data and Pictures from Toilet Camera It Describes as “End-to-End Encrypted” - /var/log/simon
Claimed end-to-end privacy doesn’t fully conceal your rear-end data
varlogsimon.leaflet.pub
December 2, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
zackwhittaker.com
New, by me at TechCrunch: Mixpanel's pre-Thanksgiving blog post revealing a security incident could win awards for how *not* to handle a data breach.

This is what you need to know about analytics giant Mixpanel and how the company tracks users' taps and clicks both inside apps and across the web.
A data breach at analytics giant Mixpanel leaves a lot of open questions | TechCrunch
We sent over a dozen questions to Mixpanel's CEO about the company's data breach. Here's what we want to know.
techcrunch.com
December 2, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
ageofoddish.bsky.social
Does anyone want a survivorship bias shortbread
My hand holding a shortbread cookie in the shape of an airplane. There are red sprinkles in the pattern of the survivorship bias plane. A plate of the same cookies.
November 29, 2025 at 4:50 AM
simon.overgrown.garden
Spectrum calling their coax-to-the-home internet "fiber powered" is super scammy. Like yeah, the backbone is fiber, but that's been the case for every ISP pretty much as long as ISPs have been a thing.
November 28, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
simon.overgrown.garden
I was going to say the chicken was probably in violation of §1050.7 (j)(2), which bans placing a "foot on a seat on a station, platform or conveyance", but 1050.7 only applies to a "person". So I think the chicken is in the clear, assuming it hasn't formed and is acting under a corporation.
November 25, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
simko-bednarski.bsky.social
NEW IN SUBWAY-CHICKEN NEWS

SEE IT: Fowl that fouled morning commute abandoned by straphanger the previous night
SEE IT: Chicken that delayed morning commute in Queens had been abandoned on subway
Video footage showed the man set the bird down on the seat beside him and disembarked, leaving his feathered friend behind. The chicken remained seated, one source narrated, opining the bird was &#…
www.nydailynews.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
cpsc.gov
CPSC Warns Consumers to Immediately Stop Using Batteries for E-Bikes from Rad Power Bikes Due to Fire Hazard; Risk of Serious Injury or Death www.cpsc.gov/Warnings/202...
Rad power bikes battery
November 24, 2025 at 7:03 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
I'm pretty sure this is the filing the Reuters article is based off (if I didn't know better I would say Reuters is making it intentionally difficult to find the underlying filing)
November 23, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
awest.uk
The malwarebytes Google opting-your-emails-into-ai-training thing is not true. The post is based on one bad tweet.

I know anti-tech lamenting is a Bluesky core principle, but please use the same judgement you would for any other clickbait.

www.theverge.com/news/826902/...
Google denies ‘misleading’ reports of Gmail using your emails to train AI
Google says “we do not use your Gmail content for training our Gemini AI model.”
www.theverge.com
November 22, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Simon Fondrie-Teitler
eliothiggins.bsky.social
Bellingcat’s contact email has always been a magnet for people with fairly unusual views; paranoid delusions, sprawling conspiracies, the works. But recently, the pattern has shifted, we’re seeing more and more emails clearly written with ChatGPT.
November 19, 2025 at 2:18 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
“The box for income is grayed out, so income cannot be entered and the application cannot be submitted. … It turns out that five months is not enough time for the city to un-gray a box … the Finance Department informed me that the city’s technology agency would not fix the problem this fiscal year.”
ndhapple.bsky.social Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 20d
My two candidates for 'under the radar messes that make it hard to deliver your agenda' are DDC and Parks Capital. City Hall needs a deputy mayor for 'building stuff' that beats these two chronic underperformers into shape -- therealdeal.com/new-york/202...
Why Mamdani should sweat the small stuff
Mamdani got elected by running on big ideas. But there are small, more achievable things he can do to make the city work better.
therealdeal.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
simon.overgrown.garden
Fun fact: this needs to be DOJ and not the FTC because congress stripped the FTC's power to regulate the meat packing industry after the FTC released a report in 1919 that called for nationalizing parts of the industry
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Nov 7
Trump says he’s told DOJ to investigate the meatpacking companies, which he blames for high prices.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump + I have asked the DOJ to immediately begin an investigation into the Meat Packing Companies who are driving up the price of Beef through Illicit Collusion, Price Fixing, and Price Manipulation. We will always protect our American Ranchers, and they are being blamed for what is being done by Majority Foreign Owned Meat Packers, who artificially inflate prices, and jeopardize the security of our Nation's food supply. Action must be taken immediately to protect Consumers, combat Illegal Monopolies, and ensure these Corporations are not criminally profiting at the expense of the American People. I am asking the DOJ to act expeditiously. Thank you for your attention to this matter! 2 ReTruths 13 Likes 11/7/25, 12:39
November 7, 2025 at 10:23 PM