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USPS Service Kiosks Taking Pictures of Customers

Posted by michael on from the say-cheese dept.

NW writes "According to FOIA documents obtained by EPIC new Postal Service self-service postage machines take portrait-style photographs of customers and retain them for 30 days." IBM is the contractor behind the kiosks. Note that the kiosk is supposed to not complete the transaction if it determines the photograph has been compromised, so simply covering the camera is unlikely to work. As the cost of cameras and digital storage approaches zero, is it inevitable that every machine you interact with will take your photograph and store it?

2 of 650 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Tracking stamps? by pla · · Score: 1, Troll

    It's not like, when a stamp is used to commit a crime, you can track it back to the photo by serial number. Unless...

    So you didn't make the connection between the proposed 15 cent increase in first class postage, and the fact that the cheapest RFID tags currently hover around 15 cents each?

    Tsk. You have nothing to worry about. Just go about your business, and the Government will let you know when it wants your opinion.

  2. They Year of the Diamond Dogs by Walrus99 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Walrus99 does the Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family: Run, run, run, run, ....