Yahoo News Commits and Act of Journalism - USPS Is Spying On You

GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The Post Office is spying on Americans


Yahoo News, which is a hard left partisan outfit, committed an act of journalism this week: It discovered that the United States Post Office has been running a “covert operations program” to monitor Americans’ social media posts for inflammatory information. That sounds like a bipartisan sin of officiousness that, despite the public nature of many posts, can leak into being a Fifth Amendment violation. However, when you dig more deeply into the article, you discover that the Post Office is concerned only with “right-wing” inflammatory information.

Here’s how Yahoo describes the program (emphasis mine):
The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has been quietly running a program that tracks and collects Americans’ social media posts, including those about planned protests, according to a document obtained by Yahoo News.
The details of the surveillance effort, known as iCOP, or Internet Covert Operations Program, have not previously been made public. The work involves having analysts trawl through social media sites to look for what the document describes as “inflammatory” postings and then sharing that information across government agencies.
“Analysts with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021,” says the March 16 government bulletin, marked as “law enforcement sensitive” and distributed through the Department of Homeland Security’s fusion centers. “Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts.”
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A number of groups were expected to gather in cities around the globe on March 20 as part of a World Wide Rally for Freedom and Democracy, to protest everything from lockdown measures to 5G.
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GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
The Postal Service is running a 'covert operations program' that monitors Americans' social media posts

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not respond to specific questions sent by Yahoo News about iCOP, but provided a general statement on its authorities.

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service,” the statement said. “As such, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has federal law enforcement officers, Postal Inspectors, who enforce approximately 200 federal laws to achieve the agency’s mission: protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; enforce the laws that defend the nation's mail system from illegal or dangerous use; and ensure public trust in the mail.”

“The Internet Covert Operations Program is a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which assesses threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information,” the statement said.

“Additionally, the Inspection Service collaborates with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and assess potential threats to the Postal Service, its employees and customers, and its overall mail processing and transportation network. In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”



seems like someone is exceeding their authority ... on the other hand it is easier to hide these activities off to the side under the USPS
 
GURPS

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
Report: U.S. Postal Service Is Monitoring Americans’ Social Media Activity


The mail agency’s Internet Covert Operations Program, known as iCOP, is a surveillance program not previously reported which includes combing through social media platforms to identify “inflammatory” posts and disseminating them across federal agencies.

According to a March 16 bulletin obtained by Yahoo, “Analysts with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021.”

The bulletin, Yahoo reported was distributed through the Department of Homeland Security, continued. “Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts.”

The agency was apparently examining the possibility of worldwide protests for World Wide Rally for Freedom and Democracy in opposition to coronavirus lockdowns and 5G networks. “No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats,” the bulletin reportedly clarified.
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
Why else do you think they laid in all that ammunition back when Bath house Barry was ruling the country?
 
Sneakers

Sneakers

Just sneakin' around....
Maybe this answers where all the 'lost' letters and cards where.... the Postal "Inspection" Service was interrogating the letters.
 
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vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Do we or do we not want pedophiles and terrorists groups that use social media to plan and congregate to be caught and arrested?

That's all well and good to be concerned about privacy because you think the government gives a chit what you ate that day or what your cat did, just be aware that you're fighting for some pretty nasty people to have privacy as well.
 
Sneakers

Sneakers

Just sneakin' around....
vraiblonde said:
Do we or do we not want pedophiles and terrorists groups that use social media to plan and congregate to be caught and arrested?

That's all well and good to be concerned about privacy because you think the government gives a chit what you ate that day or what your cat did, just be aware that you're fighting for some pretty nasty people to have privacy as well.
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Fair enough, but 1) that's no excuse for giving up my privacy. 2) not sure these bad people are using the postal service very much anyway. More likely some electronic messaging.
 
LightRoasted

LightRoasted

If I may ...
If I may ...

But did you also know, that the "mail to and mailed from" addresses on every single piece of mail is imaged/scanned, (a picture is taken) and digitized, using OCR, [Optical character Recognition], and saved on a server in undisclosed locations? Yup. Every single piece of mail going through the USPS system.
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
LightRoasted said:
If I may ...

But did you also know, that the "mail to and mailed from" addresses on every single piece of mail is imaged/scanned, (a picture is taken) and digitized, using OCR, [Optical character Recognition], and saved on a server in undisclosed locations? Yup. Every single piece of mail going through the USPS system.
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So?
 
Hijinx

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Geez does anyone really think there is any privacy any more.
Phones, cell phones, The radio in your car the computer in your car, your GPS, your Doctor's office
Shut the door in your bathroom, lock it and take a dump maybe no one is watching.
 
glhs837

glhs837

Power with Control
The issue is less about some govt agency doing this than the fact that it's the USPS deciding to monitor channels that have nothing to do with the USPS and posting bulletins about what they find, that again, have nothing to do with the USPS. Swim lanes, they matter.
 
PJay

PJay

Well-Known Member
Hijinx said:
Geez does anyone really think there is any privacy any more.
Phones, cell phones, The radio in your car the computer in your car, your GPS, your Doctor's office
Shut the door in your bathroom, lock it and take a dump maybe no one is watching.
Click to expand...

maybe, maybe not..

 
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