The US Postal Service has been retaining metadata on snail mail for years. Back before mass scanning of every piece of mail was a reality, law enforcement requests had to be a bit more targeted. Investigators had to put in requests that required the postal service to log information about any mail sent to/from certain addresses or between certain addresses.
These days it’s far less complicated. As millions of Americans know, you have the option to have photos of all your incoming mail sent to your email, giving you a glimpse into the very near future in terms of mail service.
More than a decade ago, the technology finally achieved what law enforcement entities have always wanted: a perpetual stream of mail service data that can be accessed at any time for nearly any reason. While the so-called postal covers program had been around for years, it didn’t go mainstream until a whole lot of worldwide news headlines were being generated about secret US government surveillance programs, thanks to the Ed Snowden leaks.