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Facial recognition, fake identities and digital surveillance tools: Inside the post office's covert internet operations program
yahoo.com ^ | May 18, 2021 | Jana Winter

Posted on 05/19/2021 11:11:05 AM PDT by ransomnote

The post office’s law enforcement arm has faced intense congressional scrutiny in recent weeks over its Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), which tracks social media posts of Americans and shares that information with other law enforcement agencies. Yet the program is much broader in scope than previously known and includes analysts who assume fake identities online, use sophisticated intelligence tools and employ facial recognition software, according to interviews and documents reviewed by Yahoo News.

Among the tools used by the analysts is Clearview AI, a facial recognition software that scrapes images off public websites, a practice that has raised the ire of privacy advocates. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service uses Clearview’s facial recognition database of over 3 billion images from arrest photos collected from across social media “to help identify unknown targets in an investigation or locate additional social media accounts for known individuals,” according to materials reviewed by Yahoo News.

Other tools employed by the Inspection Service include Zignal Labs’ software, which it uses to run keyword searches on social media event pages to identify potential threats from upcoming scheduled protests, according to Inspection Service documents. It also uses Nfusion, another software program, to create and maintain anonymous, untraceable email and social media accounts.

MORE AT LINK

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: ai; bigbrother; chicoms; china; datamining; despotism; facebook; fakehysteria; icop; policestate; socialcreditscore; spy; surveillance; usps
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1 posted on 05/19/2021 11:11:05 AM PDT by ransomnote
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To: ransomnote

great. weaponize the delivery of mail against the people. that’s our corrupt administrative state for you. ought to abolish the usps just for this alone.


2 posted on 05/19/2021 11:17:07 AM PDT by dadfly
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To: dadfly

Sadly, I believe that requires a constitutional amendment. I believe the postal service is a constitutional entity.


3 posted on 05/19/2021 11:18:52 AM PDT by gas_dr (Conditions of Socratic debate: Intelligence, Candor, and Good Will. )
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To: ransomnote

wow i was about to post this in two seconds.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9595879/USPS-uses-facial-recognition-Clearview-AI-fake-identities-online-snoop-Americans.html

The thing is people might say, post office, who cares? But the post office is then feeding this information to the other agencies in the US govt....


4 posted on 05/19/2021 11:21:44 AM PDT by Mount Athos
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To: gas_dr

yup. you’re right, enumerated. it’s really was conceived as a wholesome and necessary task by the Founders. they can corrupt and use anything good for their evil purposes.

i hope we can at least find all out the details of how and why they are using the usps for spy craft against us. gope? are you there?


5 posted on 05/19/2021 11:24:58 AM PDT by dadfly
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To: gas_dr

Article 1, Section 8 only requires post offices to be established, it says nothing about it being a jobs program. Private firms can do this work. Let them.


6 posted on 05/19/2021 11:27:22 AM PDT by MercyFlush (Senator Joseph McCarthy was right. )
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To: dadfly

That I agree with. Just because it is constitutional doesnt mean that it should not be heavily investigated. But hey — lets put together a Jan 6th Commission and continue to let everyone in government spy on the private American citizen. I am as disgusted as you are.


7 posted on 05/19/2021 11:28:21 AM PDT by gas_dr (Conditions of Socratic debate: Intelligence, Candor, and Good Will. )
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To: ransomnote

The same post office that cries they do not have enough money. Quit spending on things that do not concern you post office.


8 posted on 05/19/2021 11:29:33 AM PDT by pas
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To: ransomnote

no wonder they can’t deliver the mails, they’re too damned busy spying on us


9 posted on 05/19/2021 11:30:07 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians are not created, they're excreted." Cicero 2000 years ago)
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To: Mount Athos

Gee, I won’t be supportive of any additional budget needs of the Postal Service going forward, not that I ever was.

Seems their core mission is of no concern to them. My mail has been late, starting around the time of the 2020 election.


10 posted on 05/19/2021 11:30:49 AM PDT by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: ransomnote

These are the folks who will handle all the vote-by-mail ballots in the next elections.

They are sorting and screening the senders and recipients of those ballots.


11 posted on 05/19/2021 11:30:53 AM PDT by DBrow
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To: MercyFlush

I completely agree — I was responding mostly to that it cannot be abolished, unless the constitution is changed. Limited — entirely different story!


12 posted on 05/19/2021 11:33:38 AM PDT by gas_dr (Conditions of Socratic debate: Intelligence, Candor, and Good Will. )
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To: ransomnote

Kind of makes you wonder what reports your mail-carrier fills out every day. And if they are wired for electronic eves-dropping.


13 posted on 05/19/2021 11:33:45 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: ransomnote

Just throw that 4th Amendment in the trash!


14 posted on 05/19/2021 11:34:23 AM PDT by KC_Lion
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To: ransomnote

Of all of the government agencies in need of complete dismantlement and shutdown, the FBI and the Post Office are the top two on the list...


15 posted on 05/19/2021 11:40:07 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: Magnatron

“Our Government” and I say that jokingly is out of control. One thing the politicians are correct about is that we need a ‘Great Reset”, it’s just not what they have in mind.


16 posted on 05/19/2021 11:45:54 AM PDT by RBW in PA
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To: pas

Right on. Mission focus, guys. Y’all are JUST supposed to handle mail and packages, and sell stamps. Full stop.


17 posted on 05/19/2021 11:50:15 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: DBrow

>>These are the folks who will handle all the vote-by-mail ballots in the next elections.
>>They are sorting and screening the senders and recipients of those ballots.

Maxine Waters: Obama Campaign Database Has ‘Information About Everything on Every Individual’
By Penny Starr | June 10, 2013 | 12:48pm EDT
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/waters-obama-campaign-database-has-information-about-everything-every-individual

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) praised President Barack Obama for putting together a campaign database that “will have information about everything on every individual.”

“And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before,” Waters told “Washington Watch” host Roland, referring to Obama’s “Organizing for America,” which was changed from a campaign organization to a 501(c)(4) called Organizing for Action...

“The president has put in place an organization that contains a kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life,” she added. “That’s going to be very, very powerful.”

Martin asked if Waters if she was referring to “Organizing for America.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” Waters said. “And that database will have information about everything on every individual in ways that it’s never been done before.”

Waters said the database would also serve future Democratic candidates seeking the presidency.

“He’s been very smart,” Waters said of Obama. “I mean it’s very powerful what he’s leaving in place.”


18 posted on 05/19/2021 11:50:18 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Lean on Joe Biden to follow Donald Trump's example and donate his annual salary to charity. )
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To: Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; AZ .44 MAG; Baynative; bgill; ...

p


19 posted on 05/19/2021 11:52:38 AM PDT by bitt (People who wonder if the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.)
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To: ransomnote

From the annual report for USPS.gov for 2019:

In Fiscal Year 2019, the iCOP team
produced a total of 209 Intelligence
Reports to the field in support of
investigations involving narcotics, mail
theft, revenue fraud, homicide, dangerous
mail, and more. In all, analysts identified
nine (9) previously unknown individuals,
and their reports resulted in the arrest of
10 individuals.
The iCOP team also completed 74
cryptocurrency analysis products resulting
in the seizure of over $300,000 ion cryptocurrency.


20 posted on 05/19/2021 11:54:20 AM PDT by sockmonkey (Conservative. Not a Neocon.)
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