Law Enforcement is Spying on Thousands of U.S. Citizens’ Mail

The Washington Post reported on Monday that federal law enforcement authorities have long received information about certain Americans’ mail via a little-known U.S. Postal Service operation known as the “mail covers program.”

While officials argue that the program is solely used to investigate criminal activities, it appears to be widely used, with some Americans claiming to have been targeted by the program despite having done nothing unlawful.

The mail covers program prevents outside agencies from opening a person’s mail, but it does allow them to look at the information printed on the outside of letters and packages. According to a previously leaked program document, a “mail cover” is an “investigative tool employed to record data appearing on the outside of a mailpiece.” For obvious reasons, this could still provide quite a lot of information regarding an individual under surveillance.

The FBI, IRS, Department of Homeland Security, and the Postal Service’s own investigative department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, have all requested information. However, the Washington Post claims that “state and local police forces” have also used the program. The good news for investigators—and the bad news for the rest of us—is that accessing the contents of the mail label is not subject to a judge’s

[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.

This article has been indexed from CySecurity News – Latest Information Security and Hacking Incidents