Government Mail Surveillance Outed: USPS Processed, Accepted Nearly 50,000 Requests to Monitor Mail

The program, known as "mail covers," records the exterior data—names, return address and any other information—of letters and packages before they're delivered to a person of interest. While that data is usually recorded for USPS services anyway, it has been more readily available in response to requests.

The troubling bit is there is little to no oversight involved in the process. The New York Times piece uses the illustration of a local county sheriff using the program to keep tabs on a political activist in his community—a clear abuse of power.

NYT commenters were quick to add wit to wisdom.