4 ms·

I don't see the privacy violation. The outside of envelopes are publicly viewable by design so that they can be delivered. If you don't want others to know wh

I don't see the privacy violation. The outside of envelopes are publicly viewable by design so that they can be delivered. If you don't want others to know who's mailing you, ask the sender not to place their name and address on the envelope. But the situation isn't hard to understand. The entire building has a single code, and the delivery guy is responsible for inserting mail into the individual lock boxes, and he reads the addresses off the envelopes to decide where it goes so he doesn't need a code. I do agree with your sentiment, though. They know it won't work as expected, so why did they allow you to sign up?

mattzito 8y ago
So, I'm a USPS informed digest customer, and while I get only my own mail, I'm surprised by how deeply the camera penetrates the envelopes (possibly due to flash?). It's not uncommon for me to be able to make out the topic of a letter simply from the shadow of the letters on the paper beneath. It's not an everyday occurrence, but happens enough that I'd be very uncomfortable if someone else had access to my informed digest.
parent5446 8y ago
That's like saying if I send an email via Gmail, Google should feel free to do whatever it wants with the headers, because it's supposed to be publicly viewable so the mail server knows where it should go. (See also the NSA phone call metadata scandal.) In reality, when you send a letter, you are placing it into the care of the postal service. Your letter is only handled by postal employees, and mailbox privacy is codified in federal law. There's clearly an expectation that the postal service is not releasing your information to third parties without your consent. The information on the outside of the envelope is not meant for, nor is it needed by, anyone other than the postal service
- jlarocco 8y ago
  That's an interesting idea, but it's not true. Nowhere does it say that post office employees are the only ones who can handle your mail, and in reality the postal service has a ton of contractors that also handle the mail. They do stuff like bulk delivery and OCRing hand written addresses. A friend of mine contracted with one of the companies that does the hand writing recognition, and if the computers can't recognize an address then a picture of the envelopes get sent off to a team of data entry people who see the address on a screen and type it in by hand. It's also fairly common for delivery people to screw up and deliver mail to the wrong address, especially in large apartment complexes. There's also nothing special about postal employees. Why would you trust them more than anybody else? They're bound by the same federal mail tampering laws as everybody else, but nothing above and beyond that.
- gowld 8y ago
  That's not true. Both your USPS envelopes and ISP/webservice headers are not protected by any law. The info can and is often shared with law enforcement based on simple request (without a warrant), if the 3rd party chooses to share -- which they often do. Sometimes Google and others have an official policy of resistance, but that's their choice, not your choice.
deleted 8y ago
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ncr100 8y ago
How about these impacts: "When did you last receive a piece of mail from your Cancer / HIV Doctor?" -> leverage knowledge to extort patient "When do payroll checks arrive?" -> break into building on that afternoon and steal checks

mattzito 8y ago

So, I'm a USPS informed digest customer, and while I get only my own mail, I'm surprised by how deeply the camera penetrates the envelopes (possibly due to flash?). It's not uncommon for me to be able to make out the topic of a letter simply from the shadow of the letters on the paper beneath. It's not an everyday occurrence, but happens enough that I'd be very uncomfortable if someone else had access to my informed digest.

parent5446 8y ago

That's like saying if I send an email via Gmail, Google should feel free to do whatever it wants with the headers, because it's supposed to be publicly viewable so the mail server knows where it should go. (See also the NSA phone call metadata scandal.) In reality, when you send a letter, you are placing it into the care of the postal service. Your letter is only handled by postal employees, and mailbox privacy is codified in federal law. There's clearly an expectation that the postal service is not releasing your information to third parties without your consent. The information on the outside of the envelope is not meant for, nor is it needed by, anyone other than the postal service

jlarocco 8y ago
That's an interesting idea, but it's not true. Nowhere does it say that post office employees are the only ones who can handle your mail, and in reality the postal service has a ton of contractors that also handle the mail. They do stuff like bulk delivery and OCRing hand written addresses. A friend of mine contracted with one of the companies that does the hand writing recognition, and if the computers can't recognize an address then a picture of the envelopes get sent off to a team of data entry people who see the address on a screen and type it in by hand. It's also fairly common for delivery people to screw up and deliver mail to the wrong address, especially in large apartment complexes. There's also nothing special about postal employees. Why would you trust them more than anybody else? They're bound by the same federal mail tampering laws as everybody else, but nothing above and beyond that.
gowld 8y ago
That's not true. Both your USPS envelopes and ISP/webservice headers are not protected by any law. The info can and is often shared with law enforcement based on simple request (without a warrant), if the 3rd party chooses to share -- which they often do. Sometimes Google and others have an official policy of resistance, but that's their choice, not your choice.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ncr100 8y ago

How about these impacts: "When did you last receive a piece of mail from your Cancer / HIV Doctor?" -> leverage knowledge to extort patient "When do payroll checks arrive?" -> break into building on that afternoon and steal checks