A lotta vapes are reportedly chock full of lead, so kids probably shouldn’t be puffing clouds in the bathroom stall, but was there any reason to design the most exploitable version of a product to alert school administrators about it?
The manufacturer was happy to expand to Section 8 (USA, subsidized) housing in spite of script kiddies, rogue employees, or legit employees working under new guidelines being able to root into the Motorola Halo 3C and use its fully-functioning microphones to invade privacy.
The frog is boiling slowly: pay more for your car insurance when your insurer buys your driving data today; risk your home insurance when you don’t install this “fire prevention” spyware tomorrow.
DEF CON 33 - Unmasking the Snitch Puck: IoT surveillance tech in the school bathroom - Reynaldo, nyx: YouTube
83,126 views, Oct 10, 2025
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alt-text:
what can the hackers do?
• buy weird coptech on eBay then tell people about it
• ask your school board if they’re using these things
• campaign for strong privacy legislation
• give money to the EFF
• stay aware and informed
• keep your friends and communities safe
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I feel like the privacy issues goes back waaaaay further than any of this and that attempts to stop it then were fruitless.
I hate to be pessimistic but I was butt hurt about rights to privacy online and in public (security cameras) long ago. Nobody cares about them now and soon nobody will care that I’m caught ripping bongs in a school. Lol.
I’m old and tired.
No, more people definitely do care now. Not as much add they should in the ways that they should, but they do. Keep proving the information, over time people will learn.
Meanwhile, keep pushing your government reps for more immediate change.