{"id":2005134,"date":"2023-08-18T16:21:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T20:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-gaetz-introduces-bill-to-shut-down-uspss-covert-spy-program\/"},"modified":"2023-08-18T16:22:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T20:22:54","slug":"matt-gaetz-introduces-bill-to-shut-down-uspss-covert-spy-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-gaetz-introduces-bill-to-shut-down-uspss-covert-spy-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaetz&#8217;s Bill Aims to End USPS&#8217;s Spy Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmatt-gaetz-introduces-bill-to-shut-down-uspss-covert-spy-program%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2005134&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Florida Republican Rep. \u2063Matt\u2064 Gaetz \u200dIntroduces Bill to Shut Down USPS&#8217;s Covert Spy Program<\/h2>\n<p>Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz has introduced a bill to shut down the Internet Covert\u200c Operations Program, a domestic surveillance operation run by the \u2064law enforcement\u200c arm of the U.S. Postal Service.<\/p>\n<p>Now formally called the Analytics Team, the operation\u2019s agents \u201cproactively gather intelligence using cryptocurrency analysis, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/twitter-suspends-accounts-sharing-russian-military-activity-in-ukraine-then-backtracks\/\" title=\"Twitter Suspends Accounts Sharing Russian Military Activity in Ukraine - Then Backtracks\">open-source intelligence<\/a>, and social media analysis,\u201d according to a 2022\u200c audit report from the USPS\u2019s Office of the Inspector General.<\/p>\n<p>The program came to light\u2062 when \u200da report detailing\u200b its \u2064existence was published \u200bby Yahoo News in April 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Yahoo noted at the time that a March 16, 2021, government bulletin, marked as \u201claw enforcement sensitive,\u201d said the program was working to monitor\u2062 \u201cright-leaning\u201d internet sites for\u200c possible domestic terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnalysts with the\u2063 United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) monitored significant \u200bactivity regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-usps-running-covert-operation-monitoring-americans-social-media-for-inflammatory-posts\/\" title=\"Report: USPS Running \u2018Covert\u2019 Operation Monitoring Americans\u2019 Social Media For \u2018Inflammatory\u2019 Posts\">planned protests occurring internationally<\/a> and domestically on March 20, 2021,\u201d the bulletin\u200d said, according to Yahoo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLocations and times \u2062have been identified for these protests, which are being distributed online across <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/businessman-kevin-oleary-defends-free-speech-online\/\" title=\"Businessman Kevin O\u2019Leary defends free speech online\">multiple social media platforms<\/a>, to include \u2063right-wing leaning Parler \u2064and Telegram accounts,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, the bulletin noted that despite the appearance \u2062of supposed \u201cthreats\u201d \u200don the sites the\u200d program monitored, \u201cNo intelligence is available to suggest the legitimacy of these threats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It added\u2062 that \u201ciCOP analysts are\u200b currently monitoring these <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-cdc-releases-mask-wearing-psa-with-harry-potter-wonder-woman-pennywise\/\" title=\"WATCH: CDC Releases Mask-Wearing PSA With Harry Potter, Wonder Woman, Pennywise\">social media channels<\/a> for any potential threats stemming from the scheduled protests and will\u200c disseminate intelligence updates as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, The Epoch Times reported that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service had sophisticated \u200bhacking tools \u200dat its disposal \u2063that could even breach iPhones and that \u2063had been used \u201chundreds \u200cof \u200dtimes over the past several years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The service defended its use of these\u200c spy tools, saying, \u201cOnly a limited number of individuals have access to these tools and they are used in accordance\u200c with legal \u2063requirements. A search warrant,\u200b court order, or other constitutionally permissible situation \u2063must \u200dexist prior to any digital evidence examination\u2062 of cell phones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The OIG report last year on the \u2063program\u2019s audit \u2014 performed following pressure from members of Congress \u2014\u200b said, \u201cWe determined that certain proactive searches iCOP conducted \u200cusing an open-source \u200cintelligence tool\u200c from February to April 2021 exceeded the Postal Inspection \u2064Service\u2019s law enforcement authority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFurthermore,\u2062 we could not corroborate whether other work analysts completed from October 2018 through June\u200b 2021 was legally authorized,\u201d the report\u2064 said.<\/p>\n<p>Gaetz\u2019s office announced in \u2063a news\u2063 release Tuesday \u200dthat he was introducing the \u200dUSPIS Surveillance Protection Act to \u2064combat\u200b such abuses.<\/p>\n<p>Since the audit, the release said, \u201cthere has been no indication that USPIS has shut down iCOP, likely meaning that \u200bthis\u2063 surveillance program is still violating\u2064 Americans\u2019 privacy and seeking to curb their\u200b First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Postal\u200b Service should be focused \u2063on delivering the mail on time and on budget, not running a covert surveillance program to monitor political behavior on social \u2063media,\u201d Gaetz said in \u200ca statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis program is not only outside USPIS\u2019 \u2062jurisdiction\u200c and infringes on American citizens\u2019 civil liberties but is more evidence of the government-sanctioned spying on its own citizens. Congress \u200dmust immediately abolish this program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">READ my full press release here: \u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AhrIr3u5yE\">https:\/\/t.co\/AhrIr3u5yE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bstc2iCMQl\">pic.twitter.com\/bstc2iCMQl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepMattGaetz\/status\/1691466035453734913?\">August \u200b15, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The bill\u2063 was first introduced\u200d in April 2021 but was not passed out of committee.<\/p>\n<p>The USPS\u2063 operations have been called into question by numerous groups.<\/p>\n<p>The Electronic Information\u2062 Privacy Center, for instance, scolded the Postal Inspection Service for\u2064 the programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe\u2064 Postal Inspection Service has a well-defined mission \u200cin \u200cprotecting the mail, but the agency \u200dhas often overstepped its bounds,\u201d the group said in a January 2022 statement. \u201cThe Postal Inspection Service now claims a \u2018wide jurisdiction\u2019 to preserve the \u2018safety, security, and integrity of the nation\u2019s mail\u2062 system from\u2063 criminal misuse.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In\u200c 2021, The Hill reported \u2064that Gaetz said in a statement that the USPS \u201cshouldn\u2019t have a covert \u200csurveillance program to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-gaetz-introduces-bill-to-shut-down-uspss-covert-spy-program\/\" title=\"Gaetz's Bill Aims to End USPS's Spy Program\">monitor social media political behavior<\/a>, protected by our cherished Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the dangers of government\u200b surveillance and targeting become ever the more clear, especially to conservatives, Congress must immediately abolish this program,\u201d the congressman said at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The post Matt\u2064 Gaetz \u200bIntroduces Bill to Shut Down USPS&#8217;s \u2064Covert Spy Program appeared \u2064first on The Western Journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz proposes a bill to terminate the U.S. Postal Service&#8217;s Internet Covert Operations Program. Renamed the Analytics Team, this domestic surveillance initiative employs cryptocurrency, open-source intelligence, and social media analysis for proactive intelligence gathering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":2005135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2005134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2005134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2005135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2005134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2005134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2005134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}