> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.freshfromcache.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # This week: ink with an off switch, and who trains on your posts - URL: https://www.freshfromcache.com/newsletter/the-fine-print-was-busy/ - Published: 2026-08-25T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-25T15:00:00.000Z - Description: Also in this issue: who else can see your child's GPS watch, a safety warning that owes you nothing, and the free service that emails you pictures of your mail. - Author: Joel Folgner - Tags: newsletter Good morning! Most of this week came down to the same idea. Something is yours, and somebody else has already decided what they are allowed to do with it. **In this issue:** - [Can you stop AI companies from training on what you write?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stop-ai-training-on-your-writing/) - [What you own when your printer is on a subscription](https://www.freshfromcache.com/printer-ink-subscription/) - [The safety notice that comes with no refund](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-is-a-cpsc-product-safety-warning/) - [Who is behind your child's GPS watch?](https://www.freshfromcache.com/kids-gps-watch-security/) - [Also this week: an Apple alert, a Comcast deadline, and a teen account nobody asked for](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-08-21/) - [The post office already photographs your mail. It will send you the pictures.](https://www.freshfromcache.com/usps-informed-delivery/) - Plus: two scams making the rounds - And the Scary Headline of the week: the router that can tell on you --- [**Can you stop AI companies from training on what you write?**](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stop-ai-training-on-your-writing/) A recipe in a Facebook group, a review you left for your plumber, the newsletter you type up for the neighborhood association. If it was public on the internet, odds are it helped teach an AI system to write. The opt-out settings you have heard about are real, and the piece is plain about their limits. They only work going forward, and they only bind companies that choose to honor them, and one big one got caught not honoring them. Where each setting lives, what changes on September 15, and the one place you have real power. *Learn* --- [**What you own when your printer is on a subscription**](https://www.freshfromcache.com/printer-ink-subscription/) HP's CEO puts Instant Ink at more than 13 million subscribers, and the contract lets HP shut off the cartridge the moment you cancel, ink still inside it. Brother, Canon and Epson write the same idea into their own plans. Some of these printers also stop printing when the internet goes out, and the piece covers what the printer reports back to HP while it sits there. If you want out, there is a way to cancel without ending up with a dead printer, and it is in there. *Learn* --- [**The safety notice that comes with no refund**](https://www.freshfromcache.com/what-is-a-cpsc-product-safety-warning/) A recall is a deal. Stop using the thing, and somebody owes you a refund, a repair or a replacement. There is a second kind of notice where the agency tells you a product can hurt you and nobody owes you anything, and it has grown to one safety notice in five. It falls hardest on the cheap electronics, chargers, power strips and power banks. Four things to check before you buy one, and what to do if you already own one. *Learn* --- [**Who is behind your child's GPS watch?**](https://www.freshfromcache.com/kids-gps-watch-security/) Nobody buys a kids GPS watch carelessly. The purchase is itself an act of caution, and the question that gets skipped at checkout is who else can see the location. Consumer Reports found trackers that skip the second login step, and the cheapest watches run on shared platforms the buyer cannot even name. The piece shows you how to find out what is inside the watch already on your child's wrist, what you can change today, and when replacing it is the right call. *Learn* --- [**Also this week: an Apple alert, a Comcast deadline, and a teen account nobody asked for**](https://www.freshfromcache.com/also-this-week-2026-08-21/) Four stories from the week I did not write a full piece about. Apple warned the people it believes are spyware targets, and shipped a fix the rest of us should install anyway. The Comcast breach claim deadline moved to September 14\. ChatGPT started deciding on its own which of its users are teenagers. And four states are in court arguing Facebook and Instagram were built to hook kids. *News* --- **If you only read one:** [AI training](https://www.freshfromcache.com/stop-ai-training-on-your-writing/). Whatever you have posted publicly is already in the mix, and the article is clear about which levers do anything at all. --- ### 5-Minute Tech Tip [The post office already photographs your mail, and it will send you the pictures](https://www.freshfromcache.com/usps-informed-delivery/), free, by email, every morning it has something for you. Most eligible addresses have never turned it on. Sunday's piece also tells the story of a crew who enrolled as their victims so they would know which morning the new credit cards would be sitting in the mailbox. Enrolling yourself gets you your own record of your mail, and the walkthrough is in the article. --- ### Fresh Trouble **The package you did not order.** A box turns up with your name on it and nothing you bought inside. The seller needs a real delivery in your name so they can post a review as a verified buyer, and that review is the entire point of the package. It also means somebody out there has your name and address. ([FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/08/unexpected-package-you-got-could-be-brushing-scam?ref=freshfromcache.com)) **Sponsored searches.** You go looking for a company's bill-pay page, and the first thing Google shows you is advertising. Those results sit above the real link with a small Sponsored label on them, and scammers buy those slots to put a look-alike payment page in front of you. Scroll past the sponsored block, or type in the address printed on your bill. ([FTC](https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/08/searching-online-bill-pay-impersonators?ref=freshfromcache.com)) --- ### Scary Headline of the Week *"Xfinity routers are now motion detectors able to report you to the police"* Comcast launched a bundle called Xfinity Shield on August 18, and the part of it that made headlines is WiFi Motion. It turns a leased Xfinity gateway into a motion sensor, it arrived in an app update, and it is now free for every Xfinity Internet customer with an XB7 gateway or newer. No camera and no microphone. The router notices the wifi signal bending around a moving body, keeps a log, and sends your phone a notification. Two things take the edge off. It is opt-in and stays off until you turn it on, so if you do nothing, your router detects nothing. And it does not record video or identify who is moving. However, the underlying claim behind the headline is accurate. Comcast's own documentation says it may hand the motion data to third parties, without telling you, for law enforcement investigations, disputes Comcast is a party to, or a court order. Turn it on and you have created a timestamped record of when somebody was moving around inside your house, held by a company that decides for itself when to share it. **The verdict:** off by default means the risk is a choice. The question to consider before tapping Enable is whether a free motion alert is a fair trade for a record of your household's comings and goings that can be subpoenaed without your knowledge. The feature itself is not new, and I wrote up [how wifi motion sensing works](https://www.freshfromcache.com/wifi-motion-sensing/) back in June. What changed on the 18th is the price, and how many routers now have it. Seen a headline this week that scared you? Reply and send it. It might get next week's verdict. --- ### Help Fresh From Cache grow This newsletter is free and written by one person. If it earns its spot in your inbox, two ways to help: forward this email to one person who might want it, and if it was forwarded to you, [subscribe](https://www.freshfromcache.com/#/portal/signup) to get your own copy every Tuesday. And if you would rather chip in a few dollars, there is a [support page](https://www.freshfromcache.com/support/) now. Thank you for your support! --- Have you already turned on USPS Informed Delivery? How do you like it? Hit reply. Joel