2/4/2023 – Portions of the following article come to us from DailyMail.com. Commentary is provided by Rick Owens and PEN. We warned others about this problem back in January 2022.
US Postal Service is accused of sharing private information from 68 million households that applied for free Covid-19 tests with labor unions that could potentially be used for their political campaigns
- Tens of millions of Americans received sets of four free Covid-19 tests in the mail by filling out a form on the USPS website with their full name, email and address
- A union watchdog group spotted small print on the online form which allows USPS to ‘disclose your information to third parties without your consent’
- The CEO of the nonprofit Americans for Fair Treatment said she fears that if passed to unions by USPS, the data could be used for political campaigning
Daily Mail – 2/3/2023 -The US Postal Service may have shared the private information of up to 68 million households with labor unions – and is now trying to hide it, a lawsuit claims.
Tens of millions of Americans received sets of four free Covid-19 tests in the mail by filling out a form on the USPS website with their full name, email and postal address.
The program, authorized by the Biden Administration, was lauded for improving access to rapid coronavirus tests.
By March 2022, USPS said it delivered over 270 million tests to more than 68 million households.
But a nonprofit union watchdog Americans For Fair Treatment (AFFT) spotted small print on the online form which allows USPS to ‘disclose your information to third parties without your consent’, including ‘labor organizations as required by applicable law.’
Oddly, this small print differed slightly from USPS’ standard privacy notice, which makes no mention of unions.
PEN: We accessed the free COVID test site managed by USPS today, 2/4/23, and here’s the current privacy notice:
In January 2022 we warned the public about this potential problem. The following was our message:
PEN: USPS started taking orders for free COVID-19 tests a day early. Below is the Privacy Statement you can read on the ordering page – we wanted to make certain you are aware that your information will be shared – So, the way we see it…your contact and ordering information will be shared with the government and possibly with the unions.
Daily Mail: Americans For Fair Treatment (AFFT) CEO Elisabeth Messenger said she fears that if passed to unions by USPS, the data could be used for political campaigning.
‘We’re talking over 70 million households by now. That’s more than half the households in the United States,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘The unions have done an incredible job of gathering data in the past, getting union members’ boots on the ground to door knock and be available for political candidates.
‘Many AFFT members left their union because they saw how Big Labor abused its power by sharing union members’ data and money with progressive political candidates.
‘This would be the freshest, most accurate data you could get, no one is going to put a fake address. People really wanted these Covid tests, so they gave the most accurate information.’
Read full article at DailyMail.com
