(TJNVEWS.COM) The US Postal Service (USPS) has been running a secret program to track and collect Americans’ social media posts – including those about planned protests, according to a document obtained by Yahoo News.
The surveillance program – operated by the law enforcement arm of the USPS, is known as iCOP or “Internet Covert Operations Program” – has not been previously made public according to the report.
The report cites intelligence that ‘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’ against pandemic lockdown measures.
“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,’” reads the bulletin,” though it hedges with “No intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.”
Yahoo News reported:
It’s a mystery” said University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone – who was appointed by President Obama to review the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program revealed by Edward Snowden. “I don’t understand why the government would go to the Postal Service for examining the internet for security issues.“
“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,” he added.
“This seems a little bizarre,” agreed Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s liberty and national security program. “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.” –Yahoo News
The uncovered document can be read below:
Post Office Redacted by Yahoo News
