Breach of Trust: USPS Shared Customer Data With Big Tech Companies
It's been quite the week for the technology world, with the major shutdown of many worldwide airlines, banks and postal services due to a bad update by Crowdstrike.
Now, there's even more bad news for U.S. citizens, as the USPS just admitted to a major breach of trust.
USPS Shared Customers' Data With Meta, LinkedIn, Google, Pinterest and Snap
According to Techcrunch.com, the U.S. Postal Service shared the addresses of its online customers with giants Meta, LinkedIn and Snap.
When the results of Techcrunch's deep dive were presented to the USPS, the postal service said it had addressed the issue and stopped the practice, claiming that it was "unaware" of it.
How Was the USPS Sharing Your Information?
TechCrunch found USPS was sharing customers’ information by way of hidden data-collecting code used across its website.
In this case, the USPS was collecting data including the postal addresses of logged-in USPS Informed Delivery customers, who use the service to see photos of their incoming mail so they can make sure it arrives.
If you are someone who uses the service to show you what mail is coming to your home that day, there is a good chance that your information was shared with Meta, Google, Pinterest, Snap and possibly more.
There really isn't anything you can do about it now but hope that nothing bad comes your way from it, as the USPS claims they have fixed the "bug" that they had no clue was in there collecting your data.
The USPS has made an official comment to help ease your mind a little.
"The Postal Service does not sell or provide any personal information that is collected from this analytics platform to any third party, and we were unaware of any configuration of the platform that collected personal information from the URL and that shared it without our knowledge with social media."
Either way you look at it, whether they had the knowledge that it was happening or not, it's not a good look for the more than 60 million USPS customers in America who use their Informed Delivery service.
Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 130 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today's top stars, like Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, + more!
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