ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

U.S.A. Today reported that the government made 10,000 requests per year since 1998 to the postal service to "record names, addresses and other information from the outside of letters and packages of suspected criminals." Each request may cover multiple letters and packages.

Postal authorities approved 99.5% of requests made in 2004, 2005, and 2006.  The government refused to disclose the volume of mail monitored in national security investigations.

Postal officials also would not discuss how much mail is being opened for content examinations, which requires a warrant.

(H/T Wired)