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Postal Sensor Fleet Idea Gets Tentative Nod From the USPS
Late last year, we mentioned the idea floated by to Michael J. Ravnitzky, a chief counsel at the Postal Regulatory Commission, that the US Postal Service use its wide-ranging fleet to gather and upload useful data of all kinds — everything from weather conditions to RF coverage. Now, an anonymous reader writes "A workshop on this topic is scheduled for April 12th in Washington, DC. This month, the Postmaster General sent a letter to Senator Thomas Carper, Chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, expressing interest in exploring this concept."
We have firemen here that very rarely do things that involve fire, & now we're apparently gonna have the USPS's fleet of Grumman LLV's that do work for the NIST & FCC. Maybe if we labeled these organizations properly we could be more efficient with the budget. (& this is coming from a liberal, not a conservative/libertarian)
On the surface this sounds like a good idea, provided that data is collected from sensors only - for things like radiation and chemical/biological agents.....
However, I could easily see DHS wanting to expand this to more troubling activities....
I wonder why he sent a letter ... and email would have been faster :)
Add cameras. Take that, Street View!
Am I wrong here?
Google collects images for its streetview, and a Wifi sensor to create a "coverage" map, and it gets investigated by two governments (EU and US) plus an anti-trust investigation.
But if the government-owned post office does it, and "accidentally" collects your userID and other crap, that will be good. It will "help stop terrorism". Yep.
Sorry. I'm a cynic.
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I hope some sane guy realizes that no location data (trajectories-stops) should be recorded for trucks making home deliveries. Delivery locations can be correlated with home locations and then in turn with sensitive information about who gets parcels and how many of them per month.
Personally, I would not welcome a three-lettered agency visit just because I make frequent eBay purchases of obscure 18th century books.
The CBO estimates we'll (the US) run deficits totaling 10 trillion between now and 2021. (http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12103) We shouldn't be creating makework for government employees. Just shut down the USPS - it's useless.
I am becoming convinced that there is no way the national debt can actually be repaid; monetization is the only possible outcome.
How about the first thing they report is when USPS trucks break driving laws? They don't even all have backup beepers. In New York City. Big heavy truck with no backup beeper that loads and unloads a lot in NYC? BAD idea.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
then it tells two friends..., it's all good news, from now on.
In our area, for whatever reason, our mail gets delivered sometime in a 4 hour window. It's as likely that we'll have mail by noon as it is that we won't have it by 4pm. I've been thinking about putting some kind of sensor on the box that reports to us, but it's one of those shared boxes and space within our mail cubby is extremely limited, so it would really have to go outside the box. We figure the best bet would be to just set up a camera watching it with some image processing software.
But, this story has given me new hope that perhaps they will give us an RSS feed or something that we could watch.
PG&E - Pacific Gas And Electric (and other utitilies) have full reign over entering my backyard to check my meter monthly. I've long wondered whether and/or when they'll team up with others to provide sensitive data to those with money.
I worry about one single organization controlling all the aspects of this. Wouldn't it be better to publish an API and/or data format and have third-party fleets (fed-ex, taxis, bus operators, etc) collect the data for a fee? It seems like having layers of boundaries would help prevent abuse, particularly if the data was somehow intrinsically open. It also seems like sourcing the data from disinterested third parties could potentially lead to better/more data if the numbers work out right.
There aint no pancake so thin it doesn't have two sides.
Oh, my God, could they possibly pick a more inept, sloppy and non-technological organization in the western world than the USPS. Not only are they the largest polluter on record (little mail trucks get 4 mpg) but they are the number one contributor to tree-cutting and filling land-fills.
The most sophisticate piece of equipment in the main post office near me is the time-clock.
Maybe the term “junk mail,” which the USPS calls, “standard mail,” because that is their performance standard, will be expanded to include “junk data,” which no no doubt will be renamed “standard data,” in their honor.
I hereby accept all parties for a bet that (1) any process they use for data collection will badly executed and (2) they will be so badly hacked that “post office root kits” will appear in grammar school science fairs.
I will create a sig when innovation restarts in the U.S.
so much for my "in People's Demokratik Amerika...." joke
When I was in the process of retiring one supervisor talked about the PO adding GPS to trucks to gather information on carriers. He said they would be able to track every action from whether the emergency brake is on, doors locked, speed, time between stopping and starting on walking loops. It seemed like just too much micro management of the carriers. Carriers work really hard, and didn't need the aggravation of being watched constantly.
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I'm sure the posties are just thrilled that dogs can now track them remotely. No need to lie in wait, they can run around and play just keeping an eye on their tracker!
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
New vector for surveillance. We all know that the government never exceeds the scope of its stated intent.
Entire city block moons the postman. Video footage @ 11
Courtesy of the NSA.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
Maybe the USPS could attach (innocuous) physical cookies to people when they receive their mail and use the USPS fleet to (anonymously) track their offline activities. I think this would revolutionize offline marketing and help the economy.
Now how about moving to Electric cars. Seriously, The USPS could make a dent in lowering their costs, as well as getting electric cars in the USA moving. They currently buy most of their vehicles from AM General, which are basically CJ-5's, called DJ5s. Instead, AM General could produce an electric version that got 40-50 miles on a charge. That might sound low, but the average USPS vehicle travels less than 30 miles daily(yes, that little). So, with 40-50 miles / charge, they have plenty left over. And if AM General did this up right, they would get a load of work their way.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
It's been done. Put your mail in those green boxes marked W.A.S.T.E...
(If this makes entirely no sense, you need to read Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49". It still won't make sense, but it'll be a lot funnier.)
Bill Stewart
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On the surface it sounds like a great idea for them to collect all this useful data. However, I really hope it is expanded to collect RF information being transmitted from my wallet... from the chips in my credit cards, bank cards, drivers license, passport, etc. I sure hope this data is collected and used so government bodies can more accurately track my movements and information about the companies I do business with. If they do it right, I suspect the junk mail in my mailbox would be far more relevant to the things I do.
Because after all, I really would like a closer relationship with my governing body. I just dont feel like we know each other well enough yet. I got to 3rd base with airmiles, but in time I feel I could go all the way USPS.
Ravnitzky's idea to put passve sensors on USPS vehicles is brilliant. Rapid implementation of emerging technology is one of the keys to America competing successfully. These sensors could improve productivity, improve early detection of an incident, improve recovery from a disaster, and more. Most amazing the Post Office and Postmaster General "getting it".
Indeed, this is a major reason why the utilities support the "smart meter" investment (it's also a good way to stop employing meter readers). But there's a big question as to who owns the information, and the utilities are solidly behind the position that they use the info and can use it as they see fit (i.e. sell it and use for marketing). Some details about how it can be misused are here.
The DoE actually says that the info is the customer's. Sad to say legislation doesn't support that, and you can be sure that in the continuous struggle for increasing ARPU, the customer will get the shaft.