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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
--- Date: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 00:15:38 -0400 From: Ben Brunk <brunkb@ils.unc.edu> To: declan@well.com Subject: post office on college campuses now ask for ID Declan, Not sure if you would be interested in this, but I found out yesterday that USPS "Contract Stations" (which are staffed by non-USPS employees and mostly exist on college campuses throughout the US), now require you to present a student ID if you are mailing a package over 1lb. When I pressed the manager for details, I was told that this is a new regulation imposed on them by the USPS and that USPS officials came around to UNC and are forcing them to ask for IDs since sometime last week, although these regulations have apparently been in effect much longer. They also required some changes to how the packages are sorted, but I did not follow up on that part. Needless to say, I was very startled by this new requirement and refused to present any ID whatsoever--I took my package to a regular post office and mailed it from there. The only way that I can see that this could be legal is due to the fact that our university requires students to present their student ID to any campus official when asked to do so. I find that rule to be a bit totalitarian, to say the least. I read the rule to mean "campus law enforcement officials" but apparently it has suddenly (and without any fanfare, as usual) been expanded. I fail to see asking for an ID and then not taking down any information deters terror. I also cannot understand how people working for the USPS by proxy can be given a power that regular postal employees do not have. Anyways, I thought it was interesting that our government trusts college students less than it trusts the average postal customer. So now my university has been drafted in the terror war and I am guilty until proven innocent. How long will it be until I have to present an ID in order to leave my apartment? Later, Ben Brunk School of Information and Library Science UNC Chapel Hill ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------