Posted on 08/02/2013 6:22:17 AM PDT by 70times7
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Postal Service takes pictures of every piece of mail processed in the United States - 160 billion last year - and keeps them on hand for up to a month.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the photos of the exterior of mail pieces are used primarily for the sorting process, but they are available for law enforcement, if requested.
The photos have been used "a couple of times" by to trace letters in criminal cases, Donahoe told the AP on Thursday, most recently involving ricin-laced letters sent to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
USPS equipment sorts letters at very high speed using barcodes. Letters that don’t have a barcode are “looked at” by computers. If the computer can recognize the address a barcode is printed on the letter. If the computer can’t recognise the address a picture of the letter is sent to “keyers” at a remote location. The picture shows up on their screen and they assign (key in) a barcode. The machines don’t “know” which letters will get a barcode by computer and which will need to be looked at by keyers so “pictures” are taken of all letters.
With me so far? Good. Ok then… The letters that are recognized by the computer get a barcode in a few seconds. But the letters that must be looked at by human eyes have a delay. The images are sent out, looked at, a barcode is assigned, and that information is sent back to the location where the letter is in process. When the letter is run again on a second machine the barcode from the image is matched up with the letter using that faint orange barcode on the back (the one you always wondered about… or not).
Once all of the letters have barcodes they can be sorted at very high speed to the point of being in delivery sequence for each letter carrier. The 9 digit zip code identifies each address. However, it is not unusual for letters to travel around… a lot. For example, people move and their mail follows them almost all of the time. Other letters can be missorted and unintentionally travel across the country. The USPS keeps data on letters that are sorted be able to correct errors and diagnosis problems. Up to one month after going through a machine and being “photographed” a letter can still be matched up with that result from the keyer. After that the data is gone.
There is no “spying” going on with this process. The data can, and has, been used by the inspection service to investigate criminal activity. But unlike the reported collection of data by other government agencies, the collection of this data has a specific purpose: delivering your mail quickly.
How do I know this? I know the people who dig through the mountains of data that the USPS collects. They are typically trying to figure out why a letter did not get where it was supposed to be on time and fix it.
Lastly, for the freepers who hate the USPS for all kinds of reasons that have nothing to do with this issue, please give it a rest. I'm sure another post will be along soon enough for the flames to resume.
Hope this has been useful.
Freegards!
Quality control!
I suppose my GIVE-O-DAMN will kick in the day the TSA starts using scan technology to read what’s inside the letters....
This was actually outed some while ago. They take pictures of the OUTSIDES of every piece of mail. Been doing it for 10 years or more. Don’t like it, never did, never will.
The only intercept-free communication is when you’re inside a Faraday Cage that houses a huge tank where you completely immerse yourself, and then think about whatever devious scheme you have in mind.
Everything in the post is damage control for the postal service since their business is in shambles anyway.
Once they start opening mail to read it or finding a way to read it through the envelope, USmail will collapse.
Yes, this was implemented in response to the anthrax letters, they wish to track all pieces back to their entry into the system.
Most of us already knew about the MICT (Mail Isolation Control and Tracking) system which is one of several used. Its also easy to extrapolate that they have the ability to see inside envelopes as well because science has been able to see under the paintings of the masters for at least 30 years now.
Wonder when the government will figure out a way to spy on me when I talk to myself.
OMG.
Aside from the privacy issue, if they are taking pictures of the insane amounts of junk mail we all receive, that is a unfathomable waste of time and energy and resources.
No wonder the post office is going broke.
Big deal (!!!!)
Dick Hurtz
1234 Main St
Intercourse PA
As their Intel machines ask, Who's Dick Hurtz?
Or you could send it to “Mike Hunt”.
Why would the PO keep them for only a month? Shouldn’t it keep them until the letters are delivered?
Not true. The digital photographing of mail piece exteriors was in place years before the anthrax letters.
the infowarrior
Yikes! you mean the gubmint knows I pay my bills and get a lot of junk mail?
You give a letter to the US government and I can see why they can collect the data on the outside, ie so called meta-data. You voluntarily gave it to them.
On the other hand, when you give such data to a private company such as the phone number that you are calling or the e-mail address you are sending an e-mail to, you did NOT give that data to the government. You gave that information to a private entity. I do not see why then the government can get that data without a warrant.
I you give meta data to the government then you have not expectation of privacy from the government. I you give meta data to a private company, then in fact you do have an expectation of privacy.
Hugh and series!!
What about the day they start setting up checkpoints on the interstates and highways?
I doubt your junk mail is tracked other than in bulk. I know it comes into our post office in sealed boxes and just goes into the boxes.
For that matter anything that is shipped is tracked whether its shipped through the postal service, FedEx, UPS, or by way of a trucking company.
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