Two fun USPS facts!
- Those self-service machines take and record your picture. Try putting something over their camera and they’ll refuse to issue you postage.
- All mail is photographed and the pictures held for 30 days
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/us/postal-service-confirms-photographing-all-us-mail.html?_r=0
Hmmm… I wonder what’s going on.
“faces” indeed… What is people’s fascination with the front of the head?
I was making a Colorado/Weed connection with mailing and then I saw your username…
Were you shipping “more” of “something” when you discovered the machine takes your picture? Hmmm?
My name is taken from the awesome band and because I like the way the word sounds. Regrettably, long before I knew what Cheeba was.
I was hoping they’d show footage of whomever ripped it from the ground - irate citizen? 
Plus it would give some soothing reassurance that there was somebody watching the watchers…
… So which is it?
(kidding, I read the article - it’s an hour after FOX31 discovered it that it was ripped from the ground).
There are times staking out the Post Office makes sense - like when the UNABOMER is in town.
That time is not “always.” Hence, the Fourth Amendment.
I have that same crappy game camera. It runs on D cell batteries, but it’s really not energy efficient at all, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the main purpose of the housing was to rainproof a wall-wart style power adapter. You have to use a male-to-male type A USB cable to download the grainy and nearly useless images, and you can leave that plugged in also and use this thing as a really low quality security monitor in real time.
If that’s the camera I think it is (I salvaged mine from a recycling bin) the only way you could possibly recognize the people given the horrible picture quality is to use your specialized facial recognition brain circuitry which works exceptionally well for noisy images.
I mean, seriously, you can’t tell a dog from a coyote with that thing. You can barely distinguish a deer from an Alsatian! It’s a piece of junk. I use mine as a decoy - if you put this thing out where a thief or corrupt cop can sneak up on it and bash it to pieces, they won’t necessarily notice the well-hidden high-quality camera recording them doing so.
Yeah, fun. I was happily unaware of that being a fact.
Also this, from the article (my emphasis):
Our discovery of this camera program comes just months after the U.S. Postal Service was forced to reveal (during a Congressional hearing) that it was videotaping and storing the address and return information from billions of pieces of mail at its distribution centers.
As one of the last thousand(?) or so neanderthals people who still send/receive letters of their own volition (with no consideration of security, other than making sure the contents don’t fall from their container), and who therefore directly supporting the beleaguered USPO, this will make me think twice about using their services.
Also, you’d better send some tips…or else this gentleman is going to consider that failure in a non-regional diction that might be harsh and serious, but it’s also truthful and considerate:
That’s just one of the reasons I always wear a Richard Nixon mask in public.
Ted is 125 miles away from this post office, at ADX Florence … so going by the 100-mile constitution-free zone that courts have established, we are “safe”.
The border patrol has used this 100-mile limit from external borders… but they frequently misinterpret things, too. This post office is within 100 miles of the international aiport (direct to tokyo, home of the Sarin gas attacks!!), and within 100 miles of several embassies in Denver (technically not on US soil)… so they could claim the 4th amendment doesn’t apply.
• Embassies aren’t “technically foreign soil,” although there are certain rules and privileges involved. Domestic law applies, but agents of the host country may not enter without permission.
• There are no embassies in Denver. Embassies are almost always in the national capital. There are consulates, and some Embassy Suites Hiltons.
I almost gave you a like. Where’s the button for agree, but don’t like it?
Ah, you’re totally right. I went off on super-rant-mode; thanks for keeping me in check!
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