Report Reveals Wider Tracking of Mail in U.S. New York Times (10/28/14) Nixon, Ron An audit of the U.S. Postal Services mail-monitoring program that was quietly released earlier this year found that the Postal Service approved nearly 50,000 requests to monitor mail in 2013. The requests came from law enforcement agencies and the Postal Services internal inspection unit. The audit did not mention how many requests came from government agencies in charge of national security. The program, which is known as mail covers and is said to have played an important role in the nations post-Sept. 11 surveillance regime, involves postal employees recording all the information present on the face of all pieces of mail sent to the target. This can include digital images of mail taken as part of mail processing. The audit found numerous occasions in which requests where not properly scrutinized, as well as examples of blatant abuse. Previous investigations have turned up cases in which mail covers were abused. One example is a 2011 case from Arizona in which a sheriff and county attorney used mail covers to investigate a political opponent of the sheriffs and develop pretexts on which to search her businesses. Other cases have found prosecutors using mail covers to track the correspondence of defense teams with their client. The 2014 audit concluded that insufficient controls could hinder the Postal Inspection Services ability to conduct effective investigations, lead to public concerns over privacy of mail, and harm the Postal Services brand.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:00:21 +0000
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