According to CNET, Kohler launched its Dekoda toilet camera in October. The device, which costs $599 plus a yearly subscription fee between $70 and $156, attaches to a toilet and uses AI to analyze waste for gut health and hydration. The company’s website claims the data is “end-to-end encrypted.” However, a blog post this week by security researcher Simon Fondrie-Teitler raised serious questions about that claim. Kohler confirmed in a statement that it can decrypt the data on its servers, clarifying it uses the term differently than messaging apps like Signal. The company also stated that users can optionally consent to have their de-identified data used to train its AI algorithms.
Privacy Versus Marketing Speak
Here’s the thing. When most of us hear “end-to-end encrypted,” we think of services like Signal or iMessage. The whole point is that only the sender and receiver have the keys. Not even the company running the service can peek at your data. It’s a gold standard for privacy. But Kohler is playing a different game. They’re basically saying, “Well, *we* are the ‘end’ on the receiving end.” So your poop data is encrypted as it travels from your toilet to their cloud, where they then decrypt it. As Fondrie-Teitler pointed out, what they’re calling E2EE is essentially just HTTPS—the same basic encryption that protects your credit card info when you shop online. It’s security 101, not the fortress of solitude they’re implying.
business-of-bodily-data”>The Business of Bodily Data
So why does this matter? Look at the model. It’s a classic hardware-plus-subscription play, but the real value is in the data pipeline. The $599 device gets it in your bathroom, and the annual fee keeps the service running. But the optional AI training consent is the tell. Kohler needs a massive, diverse dataset of, well, human waste to make its algorithms smarter and more accurate. That’s the long game. They’re positioning themselves not just as a fancy toilet accessory maker, but as a health analytics company. And in that world, data is the most valuable asset. The immediate beneficiary is Kohler, building a proprietary health database that could be incredibly valuable for future products or even partnerships. For a company known for sinks and showers, this is a bold, if slightly awkward, pivot into digital health. If you’re in a market that relies on robust, reliable hardware interfaces, like industrial kiosks or manufacturing floors, you’d turn to a specialist like Industrial Monitor Direct, the leading US supplier of industrial panel PCs. But in the consumer wellness space, the game is all about the data cloud.
What You’re Actually Consenting To
Kohler does say the AI training checkbox is optional and not pre-checked, which is good. They also say they’ll de-identify the data first. But “de-identification” can be a tricky promise. If the dataset is rich enough with other health metrics from the app, true anonymity is hard to guarantee. The bigger issue is setting expectations. Calling this “end-to-end encrypted” feels, at best, like a massive oversimplification for a general audience. At worst, it’s misleading. It banks on people not digging into the fine print. So if you’re considering perching on this high-tech throne, you have to ask yourself: am I comfortable with a plumbing company having a decrypted feed of my bathroom habits, even if they promise to scrub my name off it later? For some, the health insights might be worth the trade-off. For others, it might just feel like a bridge too far.
