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U.S. Postal Service To Develop 'Intelligent Mail'
securitas writes "The President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service's final report (PDF) has recommended that the USPS and the Department of Homeland Security develop sender identification technology for all U.S. mail. The commission said Intelligent Mail could bolster security and let consumers track the progress of all mail they send, which has been a top consumer demand in surveys. The report released July 31 reads, "Each piece of Intelligent Mail will carry a
unique, machine-readable barcode (or other indicia) that will
identify, at a minimum, the sender, the destination, and the class
of mail... Intelligent Mail will allow the
real-time tracking of individual mail pieces." Privacy advocates like the EFF and Center for Democracy & Technology are understandably concerned. The Final Recommendations are available in PDF format. More at Direct Marketers News and pro-privacy/civil liberties magazine Counterpunch."
Jamie adds: This confuses me, because I read a news story in late 2001 which matter-of-factly explained that authorities would be contacting recipients of letters which went through a particular post office around the same time as an anthrax envelope. The implication, which I haven't seen any discussion of then or since, is that records are kept of every letter's travels through every post office. Anyone know anything about that?
Update:
mec does.
Maybe they should work on reliable mail first. I know, cheap shot.
And what do you do for a living, genius?
However, the antrax cases and the Una-bomber case revealed that there are several loopholes in the implementation of todays mail system. Giving anyone an unrestrictive right to send mail to anyone remind me of the spam problem. No one should have this right without authorization from a central government. The system we have today opens of for large scale DoS attacks through US Postal because new technology makes it possible the automize the process.
Ordinary citizens have gained a lot on new technology and the possibillity of anonymous communication such as mail through their ISP. So, in order to retain the balance which the Constitution rests its only fair and square that the government restrict and monitors the old snail mail system.
Proud patriot and republican voter.
They're using the same flawed argument that they used in many post-9/11 dealings, including the Patriot Act. Great.
While, yes, this argument is flawed. However the PATRIOT act was *passed*, and now is very *real*.
Never underestimate the complacency of our fine land, most people don't even vote. Why would people now become so fed up with the immoral antics of our politicians that they would try to put the brakes on them?
Our president is full of lies. He lied is way into office, and is lying in office. People cling to farmiliarity.
"freedom". And what do you guys do with freedom that is so great?
American culture is by far the sickest of the world. If you're not some elite 300ft yacht sailing biggot you're some white trash idiot watching friends. All in the name of the "American Dream" which has nothing todo with an enlighten society and everything todo with being selfish and greedy.
Personally I love watching the turmoil on CNN. It's better than my stories!
Special.
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Must be nice to be a "business" that doesn't have to pay property taxes, or pay for employee's government benefits, gets government sponsored building & vehicle contracts, vehicle contracts, and a slew of other normal corporate hurdles.
Hey, maybe they could start making and selling their own boxes, envelopes, tape, and cut into 3M's profit margins. Oh wait...
Maybe they could start spending their money on commericals and sponsor sporting teams. Oh wait...
Why are there only 19 people folding@home for slashdot?