Quote:This cannot be a good idea in the hands of the people known for ‘going postal’.

In an exclusive story from Yahoo News it has been discovered that the agency known for stealing Netflix DVDs in bulk, and had numerous stories of election ballots being dumped in ditches has formed its own stealth monitoring division. The surprising thing is this is not seemingly mail-related in any fashion, as it has given itself the task in monitoring the social media activities of citizens.

If this sounds ominous and disturbing, just wait. The investigative arm of the USPS, the United States Postal Inspection Service, has established a division with a disturbing mission, and an unsettling name to go with it — they have called it the Internet Covert Operations Program. The USPIS-iCOP (an appropriately nefarious acronym) is seeking out organized groups possibly scheduling gatherings, or worse activities, and then sharing these details with various federal agencies.

Some civil liberties experts weighed in on this news, and they seem to be uniform in both their concern and confusion over this agency. “I don’t understand why the government would go to the Postal Service for examining the internet for security issues,” says one that was interviewed. Another agreed, saying, “This seems a little bizarre. Based on the very minimal information that’s available online, it appears that [iCOP] is meant to root out misuse of the postal system by online actors, which doesn’t seem to encompass what’s going on here. It’s not at all clear why their mandate would include monitoring of social media that’s unrelated to use of the postal system.”

These are approaches from a neutral position. But looking at some of the language from the document that Yahoo came into possession of, it appears that there is something of a myopic focus by this new branch of the Inspection Service. As one description of their work, from the bulletin that was obtained, reads: “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 Yahoo report goes on to say, ‘’Individuals mentioned by name include one alleged Proud Boy and several others whose identifying details were included but whose posts did not appear to contain anything threatening.’’ So it is appearing that there is a focus on right-wing extremist groups. There is no mention of Antifa, nor any Black Lives Matter organized events, despite the glaring evidence of municipal violence we have seen over the past few weeks.

This new agency is looking into postings that could be deemed as ‘’inflammatory’’, and then report on those to various agencies. This is a loose definition, and in the months following the Capitol riot note how freely the media has been tossing around accusatory labels on language and individuals based on the ever-loosening definition of what is threatening language. We have seen journalists decry comments made to them on social media as an ‘’attack’’; if they are redefining these parameters it is more disturbing to see a new government entity looking into this matter.

That it is the US Postal Service doing so is bothersome, and that they appear to be uniquely focused on only one side of the political spectrum is disturbing. Maybe if they first get mail delivery figured out, then possibly undertaking new initiatives could then be explored?

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What was good for the IRS under Obama is apparently good for the post office under Creepy Joe.

Stretch the rubber band enough and it will break.

Take what you read above and then think about something that occurred a few years ago that many have forgotten about.

Remember when a whole myriad of Federal Agencies Went on a gun and ammo buying spree? As if they were forming their own security arm of their agency.

Now, the big question is WHY?

Have you seen that service offered by the Postal Service where you can log in and see what's coming in the mail before its delivered?

Its a scanned image of the envelope, or piece of mail. Which essentially means everything that comes to you is already being scanned and saved... And it has been since 2001 and the "anthrax scare."

And they certainly don't have to open a letter to be able to scan what's written inside. Good bye any privacy at all in this world.

Screw the USPS. They've had a package of mine at the Memphis distribution center since March 11. I was told that the Postmaster General has said packages such as mine are not a high priority. I wonder if it has something to do with what's inside the package, 500 rounds of sub-sonic .300 Blackout bullets, no brass, no powder, no primers, just bullets.

(04-22-2021 01:08 AM)Todor Wrote:  Have you seen that service offered by the Postal Service where you can log in and see what's coming in the mail before its delivered?

Its a scanned image of the envelope, or piece of mail. Which essentially means everything that comes to you is already being scanned and saved... And it has been since 2001 and the "anthrax scare."

And they certainly don't have to open a letter to be able to scan what's written inside. Good bye any privacy at all in this world.

Informed Delivery has only been around for about 2-3 years. And it just scans the outside of your letter. It's a pretty good (free) service, especially if you're one of those rare folks who still gets a lot of important mail. If you're expecting a check for instance, it's nice to know in the morning that it's supposed to be in the mail for that day.

Yes, the post office has been scanning mail for decades (well before 2001). It's how the system modernized in the late 20th century so letters and flats can be placed in order for quicker sorting. But just the address - not the insides. They can open up certain letters (prisons can open up correspondence for example) - and certain media mail and packages can be opened if something is deemed suspicious (a lot of illegal drugs are sent through the mail).

The postal inspectors don't mess around. They have secret rooms in every post office where they can go into and observe carriers from above to make sure things aren't being stolen. But the volume of letters these days is miniscule. If the government wants to monitor information in the future, they're going to stick to social media and not snail mail.

ETA - Oh just read the Yahoo story - I guess that's what they're claiming the postal inspectors are doing (actually monitoring social media sites and not opening up mail). I don't buy it myself - I would think that's what the FBI and Homeland Security are doing and there just aren't enough postal inspectors to help out those other groups. The postal inspectors are mostly trying to intercept drugs these days I believe. But maybe if they're so strapped for work (like I said, the volume is way down), maybe they're helping out the FBI and Homeland Security. I seriously doubt they're leading that operation - they might just be providing some secondary help?

(04-22-2021 06:19 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  Screw the USPS. They've had a package of mine at the Memphis distribution center since March 11. I was told that the Postmaster General has said packages such as mine are not a high priority. I wonder if it has something to do with what's inside the package, 500 rounds of sub-sonic .300 Blackout bullets, no brass, no powder, no primers, just bullets.

My guess is it broke into (500) pieces well before it reached the plant. Usually heavy packages that go missing are because they're packaged very poorly. I can't tell you how many times I've seen heavy packages like weights mailed with just a bit of flimsy tape securing it from breaking open. Those packages get jostled quite a bit when they're being sent from Point A to Point B.

Hopefully it was insured for the proper amount (a regular priority package only is insured for $50 to $100 - more insurance than that costs extra). And my guess is you'll have to file a claim after 60 days to get your money back with USPS (but you can only do that if it was sent priority or with insurance if it was 1st class).

(04-22-2021 06:29 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  

(04-22-2021 01:08 AM)Todor Wrote:  Have you seen that service offered by the Postal Service where you can log in and see what's coming in the mail before its delivered?

Its a scanned image of the envelope, or piece of mail. Which essentially means everything that comes to you is already being scanned and saved... And it has been since 2001 and the "anthrax scare."

And they certainly don't have to open a letter to be able to scan what's written inside. Good bye any privacy at all in this world.

Informed Delivery has only been around for about 2-3 years. And it just scans the outside of your letter. It's a pretty good (free) service, especially if you're one of those rare folks who still gets a lot of important mail. If you're expecting a check for instance, it's nice to know in the morning that it's supposed to be in the mail for that day.

Yes, the post office has been scanning mail for decades (well before 2001). It's how the system modernized in the late 20th century so letters and flats can be placed in order for quicker sorting. But just the address - not the insides. They can open up certain letters (prisons can open up correspondence for example) - and certain media mail and packages can be opened if something is deemed suspicious (a lot of illegal drugs are sent through the mail).

The postal inspectors don't mess around. They have secret rooms in every post office where they can go into and observe carriers from above to make sure things aren't being stolen. But the volume of letters these days is miniscule. If the government wants to monitor information in the future, they're going to stick to social media and not snail mail.

ETA - Oh just read the Yahoo story - I guess that's what they're claiming the postal inspectors are doing (actually monitoring social media sites and not opening up mail). I don't buy it myself - I would think that's what the FBI and Homeland Security are doing and there just aren't enough postal inspectors to help out those other groups. The postal inspectors are mostly trying to intercept drugs these days I believe. But maybe if they're so strapped for work (like I said, the volume is way down), maybe they're helping out the FBI and Homeland Security. I seriously doubt they're leading that operation - they might just be providing some secondary help?

Informed Delivery has only been available for 2-3 years, but they have snapping photos (scanning) images of all mail since 2001. At least. I don't mean scanning the little bar code they print on it for faster delivery. And they can monitor what's inside, if its visible from the outside for anything going thru the mail. And scanners and the right lights can see right thru most letters. If they can legally X-Ray mail, they can also use any scanners they want I'm sure. But a nice little database of everyone who sends me a letter is what they have.

And of course, like most government surveillance, it has virtually no controls in place.
This article is from 7 years ago. Imagine what they have now, how the program has grown, and all the people that can get more data on us.

https://www.newsweek.com/postal-service-...-it-280614

Quote:Today it was reported that the US Postal Inspection Service was spying on conservatives in America. We believe we discovered where they got their list of conservatives to spy on.

Today we found out that the US Postal Service is spying on Americans who just happen to be conservative.

We noted that the law enforcement arm of the US Postal Service, the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), is secretly monitoring and collecting Americans’ social media posts, according to documents obtained by Yahoo News.

The spying program is known as iCOP, or Internet Covert Operations Program, and involves goons trolling through social media sites to look for “inflammatory” posts – and then sharing the information with other government agencies.

Last we checked, “inflammatory” language was covered by the First Amendment.

We also noted that the Post Office is spying on groups like the ‘Proud Boys’ but there was no mention of any liberal domestic terrorists like Black Lives Matter and Antifa in the information provided.

From the information we have, we can easily deduce that the USPIS is targeting and spying on conservatives and not radical violent, and destructive liberals.

But how would they identify Americans who are conservative? Those God and country-loving Americans who believe in freedom and don’t agree with communism, how could the USPIS build their list?

We believe that maybe the USPIS didn’t build a list of conservatives to spy on, they stole it.
Last year, only days before the Republican Convention, the Deep State Democrat lovers in the government, this time from the Postal Service, decided to arrest four American patriots. Their charges were they were building a wall on their own to help protect the country because the Democrats were blocking every effort by President Trump to build a wall on the border at that time. The USPIS accused these Americans of absconding donations for their own pleasure. At the time and still today these charges look targeted and timed to embarrass President Trump before the 2020 Republican Convention.

No doubt the Postal Service Deep State actors targeted Bannon for his ties with the President but why target war hero Kolfage? It didn’t make sense. What really was shocking was the way they arrested Kolfage.

As we reported at that time, fifteen (15) members from the New York United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) showed up on Brian Kolfage’s doorstep to arrest him on August 20, 2020. It took 15 USPIS officers to arrest a triple amputee war hero in a wheelchair at home with his wife and two children!

They dragged him to a car and forced him to pull himself into it. They didn’t allow him to grab his prosthetic legs or provide a vehicle that would allow him to use his wheelchair. In the rain in front of his wife and two young children, Kolfage carried himself to the car and pulled himself into it.

The USPIS officers scoured his house and took information from his computers including the list of all the individuals (mostly conservative) who donated to the We Build the Wall project. This list included millions of conservatives.

Of course, the USPIS claims this was necessary for their case. But what are the odds that they took this list of conservative names and are now spying on those same individuals who gave to the We Build the Wall project? The prize of their BS case was the list. The actors were secondary.

All we have currently is circumstantial evidence this is the case – that the USPIS stole the names of conservative donors from Brian Kolfage to target and abuse and spy on. We do know the USPIS is spying and we do know they are targeting conservatives. This is a very, very big deal. It now appears the USPIS officials are the real criminals.

Link

Quote:The US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) intentionally included in their warrants to arrest the ‘We Build the Wall’ leaders, “lists of donors and/or potential donors” upon arrest.

We believe this data was likely used by the UPSIS recently to spy on conservatives.

Then last night we reported that we believed we knew where the inventory of conservatives came from that the USPIS was spying on.

Today we have additional evidence to support our theory that the USPIS is using the ‘We Build the Wall’ inventory of donors for their inventory of individuals to spy on.

First of all, in the warrant issued and used by the USPIS when they arrested the ‘We Build the Wall’ leaders, the USPIS specifically included, among other items, “lists of donors and/or potential donors“. We have reviewed the search warrant and can confirm this was included. This evidence is clear – that they were aware of the donor list and wanted to get their hands on it before their agents departed New York on their journey to Florida to arrest war hero Brian Kolfage.

When the 15 USPIS employees exited their vehicles to arrest Brian Kolfage, for example, they may have been more interested in the data he maintained on his computers than on the man they came to arrest. Also, when the warrant says “and/or other potential donors”, that likely includes all the data they could find. They took it all.

We reached out to Brian Kolfage and he shared this:

The SDNY/USPIS knew that I had one of the largest donor data lists in the nation. They were monitoring my emails and saw everything we discussed related to these lists. The data I have goes back 15+ years of every single conservative donor and even some Democrats. The data shows who they are, where they live, their email, occupation, how much they have given and how often. This was the holy grail for them to have so that they could target people with ease.

The Justice Department’s Southern District of New York (SDNY) and the USPIS knew what they were after when the 15 officers pulled up to Kolfage’s house last year. They knew what they were after when they arrested Steve Bannon and the others who on their own initiative built a portion of the Southern Border’s wall.

The question is, did they then use this information to spy on Americans? Since our USPIS and the SDNY are involved, and the FBI cannot be trusted to perform an adequate investigation, will any politicians get their hands dirty and dig into this outrageous violation of good Americans’ rights?

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You do realize the USPS postmaster general (Louis DeJoy) is a major republican fundraiser and big supporter of Donald Trump?

And I actually like what DeJoy has done since he took charge of the post office last year. He's faced a ton of criticism from the Democratic party but to be perfectly honest, most of the business measures he's tried to put into place are long overdue.

If you think the Postal Inspectors are targeting conservatives on purpose (which I find to be typical far-right BS), then you're going to be really disappointed when Biden replaces DeJoy with one of his own cronies instead.

So if one stays off social media then one doesn't have to worry about being spied on there. If one chooses to be on social media then one needs to get used to being spied on there. Stone cold fact that isn't changing.

(04-22-2021 06:19 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  Screw the USPS. They've had a package of mine at the Memphis distribution center since March 11. I was told that the Postmaster General has said packages such as mine are not a high priority. I wonder if it has something to do with what's inside the package, 500 rounds of sub-sonic .300 Blackout bullets, no brass, no powder, no primers, just bullets.

I have a neighbor mail a letter to our HOA po box here in town and it was labeled non-deliverable and returned to him.

Apparently all letters mailed in Hernando and to be delivered in Hernando (a process that takes at least a week to 10 days) are sent to Memphis to be sorted first. I was told by the post office that the problem was with Memphis.

Quote:On Wednesday, a U.S. Postal Service official reportedly admitted that its Internet Covert Operations Program (ICOP) has been quietly monitoring Americans by tracking and collating social media posts, including about a March 20 rally that protested against COVID lockdowns called the World Wide Rally for Freedom and Democracy.

“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,” Yahoo News reported.

Appearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale appeared “wildly unprepared for this briefing,” said Representative Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who serves on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and met with Barksdale Wednesday, reported the Daily Mail.

Fox Businesses reports that “a spokesperson for South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace confirmed that Barksdale said during the briefing that USPS analysts search through social media posts, which is said to be part of a cover mission known as iCOP.”

Mace, the Daily Mail reported, “revealed that Barksdale claims iCOP isn’t a real ‘program’ at USPS because it’s ‘incident-related’ not an ongoing matter, but the social media operation is being overseen by an ‘executive.’ Barksdale also said he doesn’t know how much money is being allocated for the spying initiative, Mace said, and would not say during the briefing which agencies are coordinating with USPS.”

A March 16 government bulletin listed as “law enforcement sensitive” and distributed through the Department of Homeland Security’s fusion centers stated:

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. 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.

“Parler users have commented about their intent to use the rallies to engage in violence. Image 3 on the right is a screenshot from Parler indicating two users discussing the event as an opportunity to engage in a ‘fight’ and to ‘do serious damage,’” the bulletin continued, adding, “No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.”

“The bulletin, distributed through the Department of Homeland Security’s fusion centers, includes screenshots of posts from Facebook, Parler, Telegram and other social media sites about the protests,” Yahoo News reported.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service previously issued a statement to Yahoo News saying, “The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service. 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 continued.

“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,” the statement added. “In order to preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”

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The left has weaponized every facet of the Federal Government. Now, the USPS. No wonder they can't get mail delivery done in an efficient fashion. Spending money on this stuff.

I still can't get my head around how or why this is in any way in the purview of the postal service.

(04-29-2021 04:06 PM)MileHighBronco Wrote:  The left has weaponized every facet of the Federal Government. Now, the USPS. No wonder they can't get mail delivery done in an efficient fashion. Spending money on this stuff.

. I still can't get my head around how or why this is in any way in the purview of the postal service.

It’s not......unless “they” (I’ll define they as almost all in Washington) have decided to weaponize the Federal government against its citizens.....and they are.

It’s what totalitarian states do to their citizens.

I never though I’d see the day where that is how I viewed my government, but here we are...

......keep my head down until they come for me I guess...