The following report is from Yahoo News:
The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service has been quietly running a program that tracks and collects Americans’ social media posts, including those about planned protests, according to a document obtained by Yahoo News.
The details of the surveillance effort, known as iCOP, or Internet Covert Operations Program, have not previously been made public. The work involves having analysts trawl through social media sites to look for what the document describes as “inflammatory” postings and then sharing that information across government agencies.
Analysts with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021. 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 the March 16th government bulletin, marked as “law enforcement sensitive” and distributed through the Department of Homeland Security’s fusion centers.
A number of groups were expected to gather in cities around the globe on March 20 as part of a World Wide Rally for Freedom and Democracy, to protest everything from lockdown measures to 5G.
Parler users have commented about their intent to use the rallies to engage in violence. Image 3 on the right is a screenshot from Parler indicating two users discussing the event as an opportunity to engage in a ‘fight’ and to ‘do serious damage.’
No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.
Said the bulletin
The bulletin includes screenshots of posts about the protests from Facebook, Parler, Telegram and other social media sites. Individuals mentioned by name include one alleged Proud Boy and several others whose identifying details were included but whose posts did not appear to contain anything threatening
iCOP analysts are currently monitoring these social media channels for any potential threats stemming from the scheduled protests and will disseminate intelligence updates as needed.
The bulletin
The government’s monitoring of Americans’ social media is the subject of ongoing debate inside and outside government, particularly in recent months, following a rise in domestic unrest. While posts on platforms such as Facebook and Parler have allowed law enforcement to track down and arrest rioters who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, such data collection has also sparked concerns about the government surveilling peaceful protesters or those engaged in protected First Amendment activities.
When contacted by Yahoo News, civil liberties experts expressed alarm at the post office’s surveillance program.
It’s a mystery. I don’t understand why the government would go to the Postal Service for examining the internet for security issues.
Geoffrey Stone. University of Chicago law professor, whom President Barack Obama appointed to review the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks.
The Postal Service has had a turbulent year, facing financial insolvency and allegations that its head, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was slowing down deliveries just as the pandemic vastly increased the number of mail-in ballots for the 2020 election. Why the post office would now move into social media surveillance, which would appear to have little to do with mail deliveries, is unclear.
This seems a little bizarre. Based on the very minimal information that’s available online, it appears that [iCOP] is meant to root out misuse of the postal system by online actors, which doesn’t seem to encompass what’s going on here. It’s not at all clear why their mandate would include monitoring of social media that’s unrelated to use of the postal system.
Rachel Levinson-Waldman. Deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s liberty and national security program.
Levinson-Waldman also questioned the legal authority of the Postal Service to monitor social media activity.
If the individuals they’re monitoring are carrying out or planning criminal activity, that should be the purview of the FBI. 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.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not respond to specific questions sent by Yahoo News about iCOP, but provided a general statement on its authorities.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the primary law enforcement, crime prevention, and security arm of the U.S. Postal Service. As such, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has federal law enforcement officers, Postal Inspectors, who enforce approximately 200 federal laws to achieve the agency’s mission: protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; enforce the laws that defend the nation’s mail system from illegal or dangerous use; and ensure public trust in the mail.
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.
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.
The statement read
The Postal Service isn’t the only part of government expanding its monitoring of social media. In a background call with reporters last month, DHS officials spoke about that department’s involvement in monitoring social media for domestic terrorism threats.
We know that this threat is fueled mainly by false narratives, conspiracy theories and extremist rhetoric read through social media and other online platforms. And that’s why we’re kicking off engagement directly with social media companies.
[DHS is coordinating with] civil rights and civil liberties colleagues, as well as our private colleagues, to ensure that everything we’re doing is being done responsibly and in line with civil rights and civil liberties and individual privacy.An official said
Stone, the University of Chicago professor, questioned why the post office would be tasked with something like identifying violent protests two months after the Jan. 6 attack, which would appear to have little or nothing to do with the post office’s role in delivering mail.
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.
That part is puzzling. There are so many other federal agencies that could do this, I don’t understand why the post office would be doing it. There is no need for the post office to do it — you’ve got FBI, Homeland Security and so on, so I don’t know why the post office is doing this.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
Luke 8:17
“It’s a mystery.” – Who’s this guy, Fred Jones along with those other meddling kids and their dog searching for clues??
All jokes aside, you have got to me kidd’n me? A man who was called into to be an overseer for the NSA under Obama had no inclination to the fact that the USPS has been spying on social media? That’s a “load” alright.
And then of course Yahoo floats out a bunch of “yahoos” that are surprised and “puzzled” as to why they would be snooping in on social media posts.
I have a sarcastic tone to my commentary because the USPS already had legal rights to snoop anyone’s mail that passes through their system; but they media is pretending like the Patriot Act does not exist.
Here is what some of the Patriot Act entails according to justice.gov:
The Patriot Act facilitated information sharing and cooperation among government agencies so that they can better “connect the dots.” The Act removed the major legal barriers that prevented the law enforcement, intelligence, and national defense communities from talking and coordinating their work to protect the American people and our national security. The government’s prevention efforts should not be restricted by boxes on an organizational chart. Now police officers, FBI agents, federal prosecutors and intelligence officials can protect our communities by “connecting the dots” to uncover terrorist plots before they are completed. As Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) said about the Patriot Act, “we simply cannot prevail in the battle against terrorism if the right hand of our government has no idea what the left hand is doing” (Press release, 10/26/01).
So, legally, if the USPS already had the ability to search anyone’s mail to “fight terrorism,” it is not much of a stretch to know that a government entity was granted more intrusive powers into our freedoms and liberties. Why the USPS specifically? My best guest is because ‘who would suspect Mr. Postman to stalk my social media posts?’
And do not assume that Yahoo just “incidentally” came across these documents. Yahoo obtained them because the government allowed them to get access to them. I can tell you that the government has access to every piece of internet data they want. Edward Snowden made that very clear in his whistleblows. You’d think Trump will pardon Snowden for exposing “the swamp,” or him calling for an end to the Patriot Act… but that didn’t happen did it?
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I have to say that this taking place through the Post Office has another root cause, or at least contributing factor: civil service jobs like the post office have been sodomite jobs of preference for a long time. UPS, too. When I was a lost Jezebel, in the ’80’s and ’90’s, I had ‘gay’ friends & even was the ‘decoy date’ for one. It confused me when he threw a fit because the new priest in town hit on him, because they were always on about how they were ‘born that way’ & nobody understood them. He worked for the post office along with many of his ‘friends’ in rural and small town Ohio where you would never guess. Especially not with the male dominant sods. Other places they were rampant & busy with their activism was working with the airlines, libraries & schools….then churches. When the Lord saved me & I returned to witness to my friends to tell them that there was another way & freedom, & that, ‘no, we didn’t have to live the fornication lifestyle’….either hetero or otherwise, in order to avoid mental illness like the counselors taught, I didn’t have to separate myself! ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- I was surprised because of all the angst & supposed anguish amongst the promiscuous who talked about being ‘trapped’ all the time, a lot of mockery, but the response of my ‘gay’ friend totally shocked me with the hatred & viciousness he demonstrated. I couldn’t get anywhere near him to speak, just daggers with those eyes, & I was saddened by it. Mid-90’s. —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— They’ve made a lot of ‘progress’ since then, and the churches refused to address it other than to say we should be ‘accepting’ else how could we ‘help’ them, but that luring dishonesty & false evangelism is just the kind of sin that leads to sodomy in the end! Drove me nuts, & I didn’t understand what was happening being busy homeschooling & with the churchy social justice stuff that was really psych craft. The Lord was very merciful not to blind me totally, & it was the word of God & real changed life salvation that made the difference. Anyways, back then I made it my business to find out more about the sodomite philosophy & tactics because I thought we should evangelize & warn, show them the truth from the word, but the churches were abandoning the word, and being infiltrated with the perverse ‘love’ of socialism divorced from truth, ‘feelings’ & philosophy & the ‘supernatural’ signs & wonder things…..all contributing to the social justice Gospel; and the sodomite philosophers & ‘activists’ took full pragmatic advantage of that, growing their power base & defiling, demoralizing, & extorting along the way. Romans 1 is very literal, Colossians 2, as well. ————————————————————————————————————————– Ever wonder why the Post Office got the reputation it did with so many suicides & violence that they started calling it ‘going postal’? They teach their people to never talk about what sods actually DO, or how they destroy their bodies, the diseases they are prone to requiring reconstructive bowel surgery etc….and medical privacy laws weren’t established for the reason they were presented. They do what Charlotte Iserbyt discussed as the education establishment highjackers & centralizers did. They’re active in professional ‘societies’, of course, and the colleges, but they would come into communities & churches etc looking for prominent & respected women to ‘cultivate’. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- I realized that was what my ‘friend’ had done with me as a ‘progressive’ in my 20’s. They ingratiate themselves with those women & help them out, empathize with them, commiserate with them concerning their husbands & men of the church who ‘just don’t understand them’….and give them sob stories about ‘bullying’, never speaking of their own seduction & abuse of those blind women’s own children, grandchildren etc, or their elitist dreams of controlling all society according to the ‘superior’ wisdom & philosophy, and spreading slander causing the marginalization of those who counter their lies & filthy practices. Just as the elites of the ‘priesthood’ have done from the beginning. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Unions and civil rights laws make great cover for sodomites, then they spread the old Babylonian/Egyptian elitist craft. Another thing to keep in mind: remember how the Egyptians found the Israelites’ shepherding to be abominable? They were philosophes who shaved the hair from their bodies & were ‘clean’ freaks like today’s ‘woke’ and animal rights activists, & don’t forget Potiphar’s wife. It’s not new, but the dumbing down & demoralization, & psych-craft teaching self-actualization & looking within & such things….while ‘evolving’ the Bibles and keeping people away from the real word & preaching where spiritual sight, healing & the power of salvation are found….permitted the conditions for it to flourish, & for them to get away with it because there was a facade of false Christianity similar to the Dark Ages in Europe. Now we have these tyrannical antichrist types in power, & even where they aren’t…they’re deluded to think that by serving these ’causes’ surreptitiously they are superior & getting one over on the dummies. The deceiving and being deceived.
Did not realize that about the USPS. Thanks for sharing.