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US Post Office Increases Secret Tracking of Mail
HughPickens.com writes: Ron Nixon reports in the NY Times that the United States Postal Service says it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations, in many cases without adequately describing the reason or having proper written authorization. In addition to raising privacy concerns, the audit questioned the efficiency and accuracy of the Postal Service in handling the requests. The surveillance program, officially called mail covers, is more than a century old, but is still considered a powerful investigative tool. The Postal Service said that from 2001 through 2012, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies made more than 100,000 requests to monitor the mail of Americans. That would amount to an average of some 8,000 requests a year — far fewer than the nearly 50,000 requests in 2013 that the Postal Service reported in the audit (PDF).
In Arizona in 2011, Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor, discovered that her mail was being monitored by the county's sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Wilcox had been a frequent critic of Arpaio, objecting to what she considered the targeting of Hispanics in his immigration sweeps. Wilcox sued the county, was awarded nearly $1 million in a settlement in 2011 and received the money this June when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. Andrew Thomas, the former county attorney, was disbarred for his role in investigations into the business dealings of Ms. Wilcox and other officials and for other unprofessional conduct. "I don't blame the Postal Service," says Wilcox, "but you shouldn't be able to just use these mail covers to go on a fishing expedition. There needs to be more control."
In Arizona in 2011, Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor, discovered that her mail was being monitored by the county's sheriff, Joe Arpaio. Wilcox had been a frequent critic of Arpaio, objecting to what she considered the targeting of Hispanics in his immigration sweeps. Wilcox sued the county, was awarded nearly $1 million in a settlement in 2011 and received the money this June when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling. Andrew Thomas, the former county attorney, was disbarred for his role in investigations into the business dealings of Ms. Wilcox and other officials and for other unprofessional conduct. "I don't blame the Postal Service," says Wilcox, "but you shouldn't be able to just use these mail covers to go on a fishing expedition. There needs to be more control."
Tuddy (Frank DiLeo): "You know this kid?" Mailman: "Yeah." Tuddy: "You know where he lives?" Mailman: "Yeah." Tuddy: "You deliver mail to his house?" Mailman: "Yeah." Tuddy: "Well, from now on, any letter from that school to that kid's house comes directly here. You understand?" Mailman: "Yeah." Tuddy: "Another letter from that school goes to that kid's house, in the bleeping oven you're gonna go, head first." Henry: "That was it. No more letters from truant officers. No more letters from school. In fact, no more letters from anybody. Finally after a couple of weeks, my mother went to the post office and complain."
if you don't want to be tracked you may want to choose a competitor who will not provide your data to the government that way.
Yes, I am sure that UPS and FedEx will defend my privacy with their lives. Are you aware of a competitor who is unlikely to provide my data to the government?
The first class mail delivery has to be opened to the competition, the USPS has a monopoly on it
What would be the point of doing this? To get better mail rates as long as you live in one of the top-10 major cities?
Next week's your big chance. Use it or lose it... All these "scandals" have been coming fast &furious. Let's see if it means anything. Clean the House, if you want it to. If not, I got a bucket of tomatoes just waiting for the first complainers.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Seems like Joe Arpaio is the J Edgar Hoover of Arizona. What a piece of work that guy is.
- precisely. If you live on a farm somewhere you are not entitled to have your services subsidised by people who live in the cities. You shouldn't be subsidised regardless where you live, regardless for what the reasons are, regardless of who you are.
Did you know that the Federal Government's authority to build highways comes exclusively from their enumerated power To establish Post offices and post Roads;
/While we're at it, let's undo rural electrification and telephone programs too
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
which means in many cases yes, defending your privacy sometimes with their freedom.
Both of your references link to Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio which is hardly "many cases". Rather, this is one case, where the only person to stand up against government surveillance spent 6 years in prison (plus lost his job and a lot of money paying for lawyers before that). I assume the clear lesson here is that he may be the last one to do something like this.
FACT: government already HAS a role in all of the things that you mentioned! Open your eyes!
Somewhere in the neigborhood of 20% of our country has no UPS or FedEx. Both of those companies rely on the USPS to deliver for them since they would make no money doing it themselves. If the mail system were privatized there would be a lot of this country where there wouldn't be any mail since it would be a money losing venture.
Luckily the foundation of the USPS was considered vital enough for our republic that its establishment is in the constitution.
The former County Lawyer has been disbarred.
That jackass is financial road kill.
There is no insurance for this kind of judgement. The county is on the hook. They are worse than broke, since this judgement spans bankruptcy.
That county is dead. The residence of the county are legally responsible for the debt.
Their home values are in the dumpster, and paying for the privilege.
Nice to see the legal system work.
I'm not being sarcastic, the people that have the most to loose are paying, as it should be, for a change.
will anyone learn?
This story illustrates the reason why when I send mail, I don't put any names or addresses on the envelope.
You know what else? I'll bet UPS and FedEx are tracking letters and packages too! In fact, the last time I sent something, they accidentally printed the tracking number right on my receipt. They must really think I'm stupid, but I'm not. I'm smart.
You are welcome on my lawn.
With his basic contempt for his fellow Americans and blatant disregard for the Constitution, it is incredible that Maricopa County keeps re-electing Joe Arpaio. It's unsurprising he would try to intercept the mail of his critics.
On vit, on code et puis on meurt.
Rather, this is one case, where the only person to stand up against government surveillance spent 6 years in prison (plus lost his job and a lot of money paying for lawyers before that).
Plus Qwest almost certainly got blacklisted from certain government contracts as a result, if what Nacchio says is true.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
My dad retired 10 years ago from the USPS. Having grown up listening to the stories of what the people and management were like there, I find any conspiracy theories with USPS being involved (on any level) questionable at best!
It's nice to see you support your dad, but nobody else shares your bias.
Both the workers and management are either too lazy or too incompetent to tie their shoes.
Oh, never mind. I thought you were here to support your dad. Is he lazy or incompetent?
The USPS scans every single piece of mail which passes through a sorting facility. One of those lazy, incompetent postmasters told me (about a month before the revelation that the USPS was handing all this data to the feds) that they simply threw that data away when they were done with it, and that this was the reason that they couldn't give you any information about where your first class mail had been in its lifetime. But in actuality, none of that data has been thrown away, and only laziness and incompetence prevent giving you this information while it is still new and held on near-line storage.
The point is that it only takes a handful of nefarious fucks to hand all of that data over to the government for interpretation without a warrant. And that is what the USPS does; they hand all information on all mail that they route directly to the federal government, probably via the DHS now which is actually its job: tying together disparate law enforcement agencies.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It has already been proven that if government doesn't get involved, private business won't do squat for the general population. Hint - private business isn't tasked with providing for the public good, they're in it for the money. So what you're advocating is what we see globally - extremely rich areas well served (parts of US and Europe) surrounded by extremely poor masses living in squalor. I'd say your view exists already and has failed miserably.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.