The U.S. media on Thursday (22) cited an internal announcement issued by the Washington Department of State last month 16, revealing that the Postal Service’s law enforcement division, the Postal Bureau of Investigation (PBI), had been conducting covert surveillance operations to collect potentially “inflammatory” information about planned protests and other information shared with other government agencies in response to social media postings by nationals.
The announcement shows that the Postal Bureau’s “Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP)” analysts monitored important activities related to planned demonstrations at home and abroad last month on the 20th, and shared the information with other government agencies through the Department of Homeland Security. The surveillance data involved the location and time of demonstrations, screenshots of social media posts referring to the far-right group Proud Boys, and demonstrations as an opportunity to engage in “combat” and “cause serious damage. The demonstration was an opportunity to engage in “combat” and “wreak havoc.
University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone expressed alarm at the Postal Service’s surveillance program, describing the federal government’s commissioning of the Postal Service to examine the Internet as a mystery on security grounds. The Postal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement in response, saying it is the Postal Service’s primary law enforcement, crime prevention and security arm, enforcing some 200 laws. iCOP assesses threats to Postal Service personnel and its infrastructure by monitoring information on publicly available platforms.
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