Postmaster Louis DeJoy is slammed over admission that US Postal Service is SPYING on Americans when it s been in the red for years - and can t even deliver mail on time
Americans took to social media after news broke last week that the USPS has been engaged in a covert spying operation
The reports said agents combed through social media before scheduled protests for anything inflammatory or threatening to government officials
Many have since expressed their frustrations with the news
Others used the opportunity to mock the Postal Service
USPS officials have since confirmed that a covert operation exists, but did not say how much it costs or which agencies it works with
Thu, Apr 29th 2021 10:44am
Tim Cushing
The United States Postal Service is still in the spying business. The USPS has been scanning pretty much every piece of mail that runs through its system, creating a massive database of metadata that serves whatever purpose the USPS imagines it does. National security or whatever the fuck.
When not helping the DEA find cash and the occasional drug shipment, the USPS is also apparently keeping tabs on social media users. This includes social media services with smaller, but perhaps more concerning, user bases. The name of the game is still national security, but it s unclear why the Postal Service which has a hard enough time divvying up its limited resources is engaged in this sort of surveillance.
Last week it was revealed that the United States Postal Service (USPS) is an active participant in the government-wide effort by the Biden administration to surreptitiously surveil social media postings by American citizens, with the apparent goal of identifying individuals inclined to protest government policies and activities; in other words, people who plan to exercise their First Amendment rights.
The response on Capitol Hill to this news of a special USPS intelligence unit called âiCOPâ (Internet Covert Operations Program) secretly surveilling social media usage by citizens, was predictable â Democrats yawned, and House Republicans expressed shock and amazement. More…
Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale briefed lawmakers on the Oversight Committee Wednesday
He admitted to the USPS legal arm is spying on Americans social media posts
A government bulletin says the Internet Covert Operations Program analyzes social media for inflammatory posts like messages about planned protests
The bulletin includes screenshots of posts, with identifying information, from Facebook, Parler, Telegram and other social media sites about protests
“We got a good glimpse of abuse of power when Lois Lerner was running the IRS, but this kind of seems like that,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican.
Former IRS unit director Lois G. Lerner targeted conservative and tea party groups during the Obama administration and was held in contempt of Congress after not testifying at a congressional hearing. The Justice Department later decided not to bring a criminal case against her.
Much was left unclear after the closed-door briefing, including whether the suspected spying targeted only conservatives.
The Postal Service did not answer when it started monitoring Americans’ social media posts, how much taxpayer money was spent on the program or what legal authority the agency had to operate the program, said Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican who attended the virtual briefing.