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U.S. Postal Service Seeks More Ways to Collect Information on You

WASHINGTON D.C. (Worthy News)-- The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is looking to create a program called "The Internet of Postal Things Project," to explore ways the USPS can benefit from "virtually unlimited opportunities" collecting and processing data from any "device, infrastructure, machine and even human beings."

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is an independent federal law enforcement agency within the U.S. Postal Service. Its mission is to conduct and supervise objective and independent audits, reviews, and investigations relating to Postal Service programs and operations; to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness within the Postal Service; and to keep the Postal Service Governors, Postal Service management, and Congress informed of problems, deficiencies, and corresponding corrective actions.

Given the potential of these new data collection technologies and the benefits that their use is already generating for other postal operators, the OIG/RARC plans to conduct research to explore the concept of the Internet of Things, its implications, and how it could apply to the Postal Service.

The ability to embed sensors and other data collection technologies into physical objects, infrastructures, and the surroundings in which people live and businesses operate – is one of the latest technology revolutions that are affecting the nature of business.

The application of sensors and other data collection technologies to the various components of the postal infrastructure (vehicles, mailboxes, machines, letter carriers etc.), combined with powerful software and analytical tools, could help the Postal Service bring data management to the next level. It would create new rich data sources that could help the Postal Service improve operational performance, customer service, create new products and services, and support more efficient decision-making processes. The “Internet of Postal Things” could also have a positive spillover effect on other adjacent non-postal sectors, as the information collected by and for the Postal Service could be useful to others.  --  read the full document

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