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The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

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Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#141

Post by mxcrossb »

wombatmobile wrote: post #64
snowwrestler wrote: post #45

Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. They were created to meet the specific law enforcement needs of each agency. Dept of Education agents investigate misuse of Dept of Education funds, for example. The Postal Inspec…

> I will say that personally I have fewer concerns about programs to monitor public content on the Internet, than programs that seek to access, monitor, and store content that people intended to be privately communicated to other people. You may have fewer concerns about public monitoring vs private spying, presumably because in the latter case privacy is being violated in a way that isn't the case for the former. Bu…

14 billion dollars was spent in the 2020 election [1]. If someone wants to “nefarious”ly analyze public information for political purposes, they can easily do it with private funds.

[1] https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/10/28/202...

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#142

Post by slaymaker1907 »

TheBlight wrote: post #111
oblib wrote: post #100

This is a tough issue for a government. We do have crazies out there and we do need to investigate potential dangerous groups and individuals and reel them in before they do something crazy. On my FB feed I have seen friends and friends of friends call for armed revolt many times over the past few years. Most all of them are blowing steam and many are in their 60s or older and couldn't run a block in gym shorts, and…

FWIW, the protestors at the capitol didn't kill anyone.

This is a dumb argument because they were at least trying to IMPLEMENT A COUP. It seems pretty clear to me that they would have assaulted and killed representatives if they would have gotten the chance which they very nearly did.

Also, don't call them "protestors". The nicest term I can think of for them would be rebels since they were in open rebellion to the United States. Some people at the capital that day were protestors, but the people who stormed the capital went far beyond protest.

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#143

Post by [deleted] »

snowwrestler wrote: post #45

Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. They were created to meet the specific law enforcement needs of each agency. Dept of Education agents investigate misuse of Dept of Education funds, for example. The Postal Inspec…

[deleted]

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#144

Post by dataflow »

o0-0o wrote: post #124
dataflow wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. Maybe worth noting that USPIS is older than the FBI. It's the oldest federal law enforcement agency.

It is also the only agency named in the constitution. The others are all fluff. At least that’s what I was taught!

Interesting, are you sure about this? The only clause I find in the constitution mentions post offices and post roads (perhaps that's what you're thinking of?), but nothing about their security. To my knowledge federal agencies were only established by the Administrative Procedures Act after WWII (which is basically the "constitution" of federal agencies), but I'm not sure if there's other similar terminology that might be in the constitution. If someone has a link to the clause that would be interesting.

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#145

Post by manigandham »

tim-- wrote: post #85
threatofrain wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And these are their stories. Dun dun.

You joke, but they actually made a TV series. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inspectors

> "...it was the only show on commercial television paid for by a U.S. government agency, with its funding coming from the United States Postal Service asset forfeiture..."

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#146

Post by ROARosen »

GCA10 wrote: post #47

Lots of sentiment today that the USPS is way out of its zone of expertise in doing this -- and that is possible. But it's worth noting that the USPS has had its own legion of postal inspectors going back to the 19th century, when they were a (comparatively) huge part of the U.S. government, and the FBI, etc. did not exist. Some 1,200 postal inspectors are still around, and they play important roles on federal prosecu…

the 19th century was also the time when the USPS was not having net losses of $9.2 billion per year.[1]

How about having the FBI monitoring the security instead and them notifying USPS.

[1]https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2020/1113-....

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#147

Post by mitchdoogle »

It is not the USPS running this operation. It is the US postal inspection service, which is a legitimate law enforcement agency that mostly oversees crimes related to mail, but has long handled investigations into other types of crime including cybercrime, identity theft, and child exploitation. The title would make it seem like mail carriers are spending time looking at our social media accounts in the back of the local post office.

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#148

Post by Paul-ish »

dataflow wrote: post #78
snowwrestler wrote: post #45

Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. They were created to meet the specific law enforcement needs of each agency. Dept of Education agents investigate misuse of Dept of Education funds, for example. The Postal Inspec…

> Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. Maybe worth noting that USPIS is older than the FBI. It's the oldest federal law enforcement agency.

> Maybe worth noting that USPIS is older than the FBI. It's the oldest federal law enforcement agency.

The wikipedia page for USPIS claims that. But the wikipedia page of the US Marshalls claims that same honor. I wonder which is correct.

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#149

Post by dataflow »

Paul-ish wrote: post #148
dataflow wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pretty much any federal agency you have heard of has an investigative dept that employs federal special agents. These are law enforcement roles with the same training, authority, and responsibilities as investigative agents in the FBI, etc. Maybe worth noting that USPIS is older than the FBI. It's the oldest federal law enforcement agency.

> Maybe worth noting that USPIS is older than the FBI. It's the oldest federal law enforcement agency. The wikipedia page for USPIS claims that. But the wikipedia page of the US Marshalls claims that same honor. I wonder which is correct.

Supposedly USPIS goes back to 1737 (or 1772 if you don't want to count that), whereas USMS started in 1789? USPIS claims its "birth date" to be 1775, so I guess that's the latest. https://www.uspis.gov/about/history-of-uspis#1775

Re: The USPS is running a 'covert' program to monitor Americans' social media posts

#150

Post by TheBlight »

slaymaker1907 wrote: post #142
TheBlight wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, the protestors at the capitol didn't kill anyone.

This is a dumb argument because they were at least trying to IMPLEMENT A COUP. It seems pretty clear to me that they would have assaulted and killed representatives if they would have gotten the chance which they very nearly did. Also, don't call them "protestors". The nicest term I can think of for them would be rebels since they were in open rebellion to the United States. Some people at the capital that day were p…

Funny "coup" where none of the plotters were armed.
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