US Postal Service reportedly tracking Americans’ social media posts
The US Postal Service is running a shadowy surveillance program that tracks Americans’ social media posts including ones about planned right-wing protests, a report revealed Thursday.
The so-called Internet Covert Operations Program enlists the
law enforcement arm of the USPS to hunt down “inflammatory” posts — made by
groups ranging from the Proud Boys to demonstrators protesting coronavirus
lockdowns, according to documents obtained by Yahoo News.
Posts deemed threatening are then sent to federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies to be monitored, the outlet reported.
“Locations and times have been identified for these
protests, which are being distributed online across multiple social media
platforms, to include right-wing leaning Parler and Telegram accounts,” says a government bulletin, marked as law
enforcement-sensitive on March 16. “No intelligence is available to suggest the
legitimacy of these threats.”
The warning sent from the US Postal Service to the
Department of Homeland Security — was in reference to the World Wide Rally for
Freedom and Democracy planned by Q-Anon-linked groups in Washington, DC, on
March 20.
Civil liberties and privacy experts were alarmed by the
government surveillance effort, calling it “bizarre” and “concerning,”
according to the report.
“It’s not at all clear why their mandate would include
monitoring of social media that’s unrelated to use of the postal system,” said
Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s liberty
and national security program.
“If the individuals they’re monitoring are carrying out or
planning criminal activity, that should be the purview of the FBI,” she told
the outlet. “If they’re simply engaging in lawfully protected speech, even if
it’s odious or objectionable, then monitoring them on that basis raises serious
constitutional concerns.”
University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone,
appointed by President Barack Obama to review National Security Agency data,
said it’s a “mystery” why the mail agency would be tasked with rooting out
problematic protesters.
“I just don’t think the Postal Service has the degree of
sophistication that you would want if you were dealing with national security
issues of this sort,” he said. “That part is puzzling.”
“There are so many other federal agencies that could do this
… you’ve got FBI, Homeland Security and so on, so I don’t know why the post
office is doing this,” he said.
The effort by government branches to monitor Americans’
social media posts has for months been hotly debated. Posts on Facebook and
Parler have allowed law enforcement to track down and arrest rioters who
breached the US Capitol building on Jan. 6 — but the method has sparked
concerns about the surveillance of free speech and peaceful protests.
The US Postal Service did not respond to questions about the
social media tracking effort sent by Yahoo News.
Instead, it sent a general statement about the program,
noting it is set up to assess threats to its own employees.
“The Internet Covert Operations Program is a function within the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which assesses threats to Postal Service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information,” the statement said.
“Additionally, the Inspection Service collaborates with
federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to proactively identify and
assess potential threats to the Postal Service, its employees and customers,
and its overall mail processing and transportation network. In order to
preserve operational effectiveness, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service does not
discuss its protocols, investigative methods, or tools.”
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