No One Asked Me But… (January 31, 2024)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… I had an interesting event happen at our local post office. Yes, we still have to go to the post office to pick up our mail.

One day last week I opened my Post Office Box and found it empty. While it is usually filled with junk mail, an empty box greets me once in a while. However, this time there was a purple tag at the back of my box and it piqued my curiosity.

I checked with the postal clerk as to whether or not all the mail was out. I was told it was. I then asked about the purple tag at the back of my box. I was told to wait a minute and the clerk went to the back of the office and came back with my mail. I again asked about the purple tag on my box. She explained that the Post Office randomly checks mail to determine what type of mail a person is receiving. She indicated that this is a routine “at random check” to track the content of an individual’s mail service.

My first reaction was disbelief. My second was: Why would anyone care what type of mail I was receiving?
Paranoia began to set in and I went to my trusty IPad Pro and asked about mail surveillance.

I learned that each year, at the request of police and intelligence agents across the country, the United States Postal Service conducts surveillance on physical pieces of mail going to and from the homes and businesses of tens of thousands of Americans. To initiate this surveillance, the department or agency has at least one hurdle to climb. First, they must submit the request in writing. Then … well, nothing. That is the entire hurdle.

I found that this surveillance is called “mail covers” and is quite common.
A number of federal lawmakers have objected to this practice as an invasion of American citizens’ right to privacy. The agencies requesting these “mail covers” are quick to point out that the Constitution does not specifically guarantee a right to privacy.

Interestingly enough, the Supreme Court overturned Wade v. Roe when it declared the principle of “right to privacy” was improperly invoked to legalize abortion. In essence, the court stated that there is no Constitutional right to privacy.

The Postal Service describes this invasion of privacy as follows: “A mail cover is an investigative tool used to record data appearing on the outside of a mail piece. Law enforcement agencies use this information to protect national security; locate fugitives; obtain evidence; or help identify property, proceeds, or assets forfeitable under criminal law. A mail cover is justified when it will further an investigation or provide evidence of a crime.”
This does not sound at random to me.

It was further explained that it doesn’t indicate that the individual targeted is under investigation nor even suspected of doing anything illegal. It doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone in a position to charge someone with a crime knows for certain that a crime has occurred. And as the Postal Service indicated, a law enforcement agency can use the data recorded from the outside of a piece of mail to “identify property” it intends to seize.

While the government can only monitor data associated with e-mail or text messages with a court order, this expectation of privacy does not exist when scanning the outside of an envelope. It is in the same category as evidence gleaned from a garbage can outside the house of a suspected criminal. The courts have ruled it permissible by the “plain view” doctrine. What is outside the envelope is not as private as what is contained within. Without a doubt, the sender of a letter expects that what is on the outside of the envelope will be viewed by a number of people. However, one would expect that to be mail carriers not intelligence agents.
A Senate Committee formed in 1975, to investigate US intelligence abuses, uncovered that the Central Intelligence Agency had photographed “the exteriors of over 2 million pieces of mail,” while opening hundreds of thousands of others, that belonged to “prominent activists and authors.”

My research found that in the United States, the exterior of every piece of mail is photographed by the U.S. Postal Service. This scanning is for the purpose of speeding up the process of mail delivery. However, the information obtained from these photos, such as religious and political affiliations, is more intimate than people may realize.

While “mail covers” do not reveal the contents of the letter, they can reveal deeply personal information. They can indicate the political leanings, religious beliefs, or the various causes the individual may support. This can be a threat to the American citizen’s right to associate politically, religiously, or to assemble without the governmental repercussions.

I guess I could conclude that my mail box has been marked by some government agency because of my willingness to express my beliefs in this column. It would be an ego boost to think anyone beyond a few loyal local readers even read my column. I could accept it as a mark of pride, but as the Proverb says, pride goes before the fall.

I guess I will accept it as an accidental finding of being randomly selected for a scan. But still it is an ego thing. I suppose it would be great to think anyone would believe that a columnist in a small-town local paper would be worth investigating.

It reminds me of the time I was hoping I would not be selected for jury duty, and when in fact I was not, I was offended because an individual who admitted to being convicted of drug dealing and another who had a fifth-grade education were selected. I was upset that I was excluded.
I am sure that my box was selected at random, but my ego says maybe it would be nice to think someone felt what I had to say was important enough that my loyalty to America needed to be checked.

Thought of the week…“Ultimately, saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.”
― Edward Snowden