ALERT: Postal Service Researches 'Smarter' Mail

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[Paranormal_Research] ALERT: Postal Service Researches 'Smarter' Mail

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,111935,00.aspSecurity cited, but some are wary of proposed tracking system.Dan Verton, ComputerworldThursday, August 07, 2003WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A presidential commission charged with studying ways to make the U.S. Postal Service more efficient has recommended that the agency work with the Department of Homeland Security to develop sender identification technology for all U.S. mail.In a final report released last week, the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service says sender identification technologies such as "personalized stamps" that embed digital identification information would not only improve mail tracking and delivery operations but would also enhance the security of the entire mail system. But civil-liberties groups and some private-sector technologists fear that requiring intelligent mail for all users of the Postal Service is overreacting to the threat of terrorism. Privacy WorriesLee Tien, a senior staff attorney at the privacy watchdog group Electronic Frontier Foundation, says intelligent mail raises serious First Amendment issues. "It's a free-speech and anonymity problem," Tien says. Making intelligent mail mandatory would likely require congressional approval, Tien says, adding that "right now there is no legal requirement for anybody to scribble a return address on an envelope." Tien also notes it's difficult to imagine how the privacy rights of ordinary citizens and whistle-blowers could be guaranteed if the use of intelligent mail were required by law.Ron Quartel, chair and chief executive officer of FreightDesk Technologies, which develops technologies for the shipping industry, says intelligent mail would be unlikely to have much effect on commercial mailers since most commercial transactions are already semipublic. It would, however, have a "huge dampening effect" on the personal use of mail, he says. CLICK ON ABOVE LINK FOR FULL STORY