WasteTrackers and More

by kmoser

Have you ever used a public toilet and marveled at the device attached to the plumbing which automatically flushes when you're done (or even sometimes before you're done)?  There may be more to that device than you think!  Some of these devices contain WasteTrackers, which scan human waste to identify, track, and monitor individuals, groups, and overall biological trends.

For more accurate identification of human targets, a WasteTracker contains a hidden camera which can be used to photograph people.  Interestingly, these photos are not limited to your face!  As you might guess, these devices are capable of taking photos of your posterior and - gentlemen, who use urinals - your genitals.  Once a face has been linked to a photo of a body part, it's relatively easy to match another photo of that body part to the individual face that goes with it.  While intended to identify individuals, it's entirely possible these photos could be used for entertainment or blackmail if they end up in the wrong hands.

How does such a device communicate with its owners and other devices?  Since most of them are placed in high-traffic public areas (think airports, train stations, malls), they usually communicate via Wi-Fi or a proprietary wireless protocol.  Advanced versions communicate wirelessly with each other to coordinate sending back reports to their base.  I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to scan Wi-Fi traffic to find some of the data being sent and received by this "toilet net."

Why do these devices exist?  Quite simply, organizations which have an interest in tracking individual people, groups of people, or biological trends (more on this later) can use these devices.  This runs the gamut from large, well-funded security apparatuses (airport security, government security) to public health experts who want to track diseases like China COVID-19.

If you think this is troubling enough, consider that if these devices are compromised, a malicious actor could hijack them to do their bidding, such as tracking certain people they are interested in monitoring.  It's bad enough if a large entity has you in its sights, but what about a hacker who wants to make your life miserable?  In fact, there's even a possibility that a malicious actor has already created a device, similar to a credit card skimmer, which attaches to existing automatic flushing devices and upgrades them to become WasteTrackers, unbeknownst to their owners.  Unless you're intimately familiar with the visual appearance of all brands, how would you know you're being scanned by a homegrown WasteTracker?

This goes beyond simple surveillance networks consisting of security cameras - which are powerful enough especially when networked - to track people automatically.  "Headless" WasteTracker base stations set up along various sewage lines can be programmed to detect certain target waste profiles.  When multiple such base stations detect a target profile, it's very simple to ascertain the general area where the target signal originated: if your DNA is detected in two base stations, it can be assumed you are located "upstream" (no pun intended!) from the location of the first detection.

How exactly do these WasteTracker devices detect and track individuals?  Devices attached to toilets and urinals have access to your stream of waste products, which can be scanned for biomarkers made up of your unique blend of urine, fecal matter, and DNA.  As your waste stream enters the larger sewer system and mixes with other people's waste streams, centralized WasteTracker devices along the larger sewer system can scan the resulting stream and reconstruct the individual streams which comprise it, using the latest AI algorithms similar to those which can pick out individual voices in a room full of conversations.  This system is constantly self-reinforcing: whenever it matches a waste stream with a photo of an individual (resulting in a match with a high degree of certainty), it reinforces the prior upstream scans to "learn" where you were.

Think you can hide from these devices?  Not so fast!  Everybody pees and poops.  Unless you're willing to forego public plumbing and literally go like a bear in the woods, you are subject to being monitored, Citizen!  It's only a matter of time before a WasteTracker device identifies you and reports you to its owner overlords.

E-Siphon

A siphon can be used to transfer liquids from one vessel to another.  Siphons are commonly used by thieves to extract gas from car tanks.  An e-siphon is a similar device, only for EVs: plugged into an electric car's battery, it can extract power and quickly "siphon" it into a thief's battery.

Universal e-siphons are available with various plugs and settings to detect the type of vehicle (battery, really) they are plugged into, and can optimize how they extract the power into an external battery.

E-siphons have very limited use because a thief must open the charging port of the target vehicle, which involves physically breaching the port.  It's far easier for a power thief to simply use a ghost car and plug it into an EV charging station.

Ghost Car

A ghost car is a portable EV battery which can be plugged into an EV charging station and which behaves electronically like an EV, allowing the charging station to provide it with power.  All those free EV charging stations in your neighborhood make for "juicy" (!) targets: just transport your ghost car to an EV charging station and plug it in for free power!

Ghost cars are often smaller versions of EV batteries, reduced in size to allow for easier transportation.  Instead of the typical 1,000 pounds of an EV battery, ghost cars typically weigh as little as 200 pounds.  This smaller size reduces the amount of power it can hold, but the advantage is that it can be more easily transported.  Some people find that two 500 pound ghost cars are more convenient than one 1,000 pound ghost car since the devices can be transported individually when necessary.  Your mileage may vary (pun intended!).

Some clever EV owners even "hot wire" their ghost car to their EV's battery, allowing both devices to charge at the same time.  While that also effectively doubles their car's range, it's usually more convenient to bring the ghost car back home, roll it into your garage, and use it as an alternate power source for a few days.  Once it starts to get low, simply tow it to your local EV charging station and top it off.

Disclaimer:  These are fictional devices (at least as far as I know!) but there's the very real possibility that some company or individual could be producing and deploying them right now.  If nothing else, perhaps they represent an untapped market?