A U.S. Postal Service division investigating illegal mail operations has quietly operated a program that monitors Americans’ social postings, according to a government document published by Yahoo News.
The Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP), which is part of the USPS enforcement arm, is one of seven groups dealing with cybercrime, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which says it aims to use mail to facilitate trade. on the black market and other illegal activities related to drugs, fraud and violent crime. But this description neglects to mention that the group also follows social sites for “inflammatory” posts, including messages about planned protests.
“Analysts from the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) have monitored significant work on planned international and domestic protests on March 20, 2021,” said a government bulletin from March 16 marked as “law enforcement” and distributed by the Department of Homeland Security. “Locations and times have been identified for these protests, which are distributed online on several social platforms, to include right-leaning Parler and Telegram accounts.”
The bulletin appears to refer to marches around the World Rally for Freedom and Democracy, when protesters around the world protested against coronavirus blocking restrictions.
“Parler users commented on their intention to use the rallies to engage in violence. Image 3 on the right is a screenshot from Parler showing two users discussing the event as an opportunity to fight and “do serious damage,” the bulletin said, noting that “no information is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats “.
The newsletter includes screenshots of Facebook, Parler and Telegram posts, including one of an alleged Proud Boys member.
“ICOP analysts are currently monitoring these social channels for any potential threats arising from the scheduled protests and will disseminate information updates as needed,” the bulletin said.
Post office removed by Yahoo News
Civil liberties experts have expressed concern about the collection of postal services on social media.
“I don’t understand why the government would go to the postal service to examine the Internet for security,” said Geoffrey Stone, a law professor at the University of Chicago who was appointed by former President Barack Obama to review the National Security Agency’s metadata collection. , said Yahoo News.
“This seems a little bizarre,” added Rachel Levinson-Waldman, deputy director of the Brennan Center for Justice for Freedom and National Security. “Based on the minimum information available online, it seems that [iCOP] it is meant to eliminate the abuse of the postal system by online actors, which does not seem to include what is happening here. It is not at all clear why their mandate would include monitoring social networks unrelated to the use of the postal system. “
Levinson-Waldman also raised questions about the legality of the program.
“If the people he monitors are carrying out or planning criminal activities, it should be the responsibility of the FBI,” she said. “If they are simply engaging in a legally protected discourse, even if it is odious or unacceptable, then monitoring them on this basis raises serious constitutional concerns.”
USPIS told Yahoo News that its mission is to “protect the U.S. Postal Service and its employees, infrastructure, and customers; to enforce the laws that protect the nation’s postal system from illegal or dangerous use and to ensure public confidence in the mail ”.
“The Internet Covert Operations Program is a function of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service that assesses threats to postal service employees and its infrastructure by monitoring publicly available open source information,” USPIS said in a statement. collaborates with other law enforcement agencies to “identify and assess potential threats to the postal service, its employees and customers, as well as its general mail processing and transportation network”.
The report noted that USPIS is not the only agency monitoring social media posts following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
“We know that this threat is fueled mainly by false narratives, conspiracy theories and extremist rhetoric read through social media and other online platforms,” a Homeland Security official told reporters in a recent press call. “And that’s why we start direct engagement with social media companies.”
The official added that the department works with “colleagues on civil rights and civil liberties, as well as our private colleagues, to ensure that everything we do is done responsibly and in accordance with civil rights and civil liberties and individual confidentiality.”
Stone said other agencies are better equipped to handle such oversight than USPIS.
“I don’t think the postal service has the level of sophistication you would want if you were dealing with national security issues like this,” he told Yahoo News. “This part is puzzling. There are so many other federal agencies that could do this, I don’t understand why the post office would do it. There’s no need for the post office to do it – you have the FBI, Homeland Security and so on. , so I don’t know why the post office does this. “
The report comes amid a growing debate over the value, legality and necessity of social media surveillance. Democratic lawmakers have criticized the FBI and federal law enforcement agencies for failing or failing to respond to public calls for violence from the Capitol on social media before the Jan. 6 riot.
“This information, which was visible on the Internet before January 6, shows a clear picture of a planned and coordinated violent attack,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., told NBC News. “It’s important to understand how much the FBI and DOJ knew when they found out and how they decided what information justified the action.”
The FBI’s Norfolk, Virginia, issued a warning to the Capitol Police and the DC Metropolitan Police on January 5 that online extremists heading to Washington were ready for “war.” But the information was not “fully verified,” Robert Contee, the incumbent DC police chief, said at a recent congressional hearing. Neither Contee nor Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund saw the bulletin.
The FBI and the Department of Justice have pointed out that such information is often unavailable and that many posts are anonymous.
But since the Jan. 6 assault, the FBI has relied on social media posts to track down hundreds of people who stormed the Chapter. The FBI found an alleged outrage using facial recognition technology that found a photo of him on his girlfriend’s Instagram page, HuffPost reported on Wednesday. Investigators also used license plate readers and cell tower location records to track down insurgents, according to The Washington Post.
The use of social networks and facial recognition has alarmed some civil liberties groups.
“Whenever you see this technology being used by someone you don’t like, remember that it’s also used in a social movement that you support,” Evan Greer, director of the digital advocacy group Fight, told the Washington Post. for the Future. “From time to time, this technology is used on very bad people who do very bad things. But the rest of the time it is used for all of us, in ways that we are deeply concerned about freedom of speech.”