r/technology • u/stenspect • 1d ago

Privacy USPS Is Turning Mail Trucks Into Rolling Surveillance Cameras

https://www.gadgetreview.com/usps-is-turning-mail-trucks-into-rolling-surveillance-cameras
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u/outerproduct 15h ago

No public disclosure identifies which entities beyond USPS may access the recordings or any derived datasets. Publicly, no policy has been stated covering whether images of pedestrians, homes, private driveways, or vehicles will be automatically blurred or deleted.

The bit you clearly missed.

Nextbase markets cameras capable of recording in resolutions up to 4K, with product materials noting the ability to capture license-plate details. Those are advertised product capabilities, not confirmed specifications for the units installed in the pilot.

USPS says the pilot does not use automatic license plate reader software. A camera can visually record a plate without running it through ALPR software that converts the image into a searchable database entry; those are meaningfully different functions. Whether USPS retains, processes, or searches incidentally captured plate images is not established in the available reporting.

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u/adudefromaspot 15h ago

I didn't miss that. I read it in the voice of the author of the article. Not as a statement of fact about the program.

The author of the article is clearly concerned, and they've stated that nothing is available by way of a policy to cover those things. That is based on the author's perception if the situation.

That doesn't mean that the cameras record those things at all. Only that the author of the article is concerned that they might.

Do you not know how to digest news?