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Is the Post Office Spying on Us Too?

April 3, 2017

Some say it's a convenience, but could also be an invasion of privacy. Perhaps we have no more privacy these days, but all of this tracking stuff, face recognition, license plate photos and other invasions are a bit over the top. The United States Postal Service is rolling out a new feature where it sends you an email notification of pending mail delivery. You won't know what's in the actual envelope, but you can get up to ten black and white images of what will be delivered to your mailbox. The USPS calls the service Informed Delivery and is currently available in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Northern Virginia, and Washington DC. Punch in your zip code at the USPS site to see if Informed Delivery is available in your area. Some call it a convenience. I think it's another way for the government to track information about citizens, especially if the data is retained for long periods of time. You opt in for the notifications, but the problem is that the USPS still collects the data.

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