Postal Service uses "spying" programs similar to NSA

[Jazzy]

Approximately 160 billion envelopes, packages and postcards were photographed by the United States Postal Service last year, reports The New York Times.

It was done as part of the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, according to The Times, in which Postal Service computers take pictures of the exterior of every piece of mail that passes through the system.

It's one of two programs The Times says shows that postal mail is under similar surveillance to phone calls and emails by the National Security Agency.

Letters and packages cannot be opened without a warrant. The tracking program reportedly only collects images of the outsides.

"Looking at just the outside of letters and other mail, I can see who you bank with, who you communicate with -- all kinds of useful information that gives investigators leads that they can then follow up on with a subpoena," James J. Wedick, a former FBI agent who spent 34 years at the agency, told The Times.

It is not known how long the government saves the images.

Full article with video

I had no idea this was going on but I'm not surprised by this. Most of my mail consists of bills. Heck, I give them permission to open my mail and pay my bills!

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

So they track who sends you mail? Oh well.. What harm could that do me?

 

[DrLeftover]

So they track who sends you mail? Oh well.. What harm could that do me?

Fascinating.

A 2013 example of:

"When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out."

Friedrich Niemöller (1892 – 1984)
Lutheran pastor in Germany
Sent to Dachau in 1937 after initially being in favor of the Nazi movement