Days after its sweeping covert internet surveillance operation was exposed through media reports, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) changed the program’s name and told analysts to stop monitoring the keyword “protest,” according to a recently released inspector general’s report. The March 25 IG report comes nearly a year after the USPIS “Internet Covert…

Days after its sweeping covert internet surveillance operation was exposed through media reports, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) changed the program’s name and told analysts to stop monitoring the keyword “protest,” according to a recently released inspector general’s report. The March 25 IG report comes nearly a year after the USPIS “Internet Covert…

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced plans to provide its law enforcement branch with access to its vast trove of customer data, raising concerns among privacy activists about the organization’s expanding surveillance powers. The USPS came under scrutiny last year when it was revealed that its law enforcement arm, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS),…

The same law used by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) as the basis for a sweeping intelligence program has also been interpreted to be highly restrictive on postal policing activities—raising questions among some critics about the legitimacy of USPS surveillance power. When Postal Police Officers Association president Frank Albergo first read a leaked U.S. Postal…

A prominent internet privacy group has sued the United States Postal Service (USPS), alleging that its social media surveillance program violates federal law. According to a lawsuit filed last week in Washington DC by the Electronic Information Privacy Center (EPIC), the USPS has been operating its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) without conducting a privacy impact assessment—a…