Dumb question: why is this such a big deal? Is there something about a camera at a post office that is worse than e.g. the cameras my local police department has mounted on certain street corners?
Then when you consider the (bullshit) form style response from a branch of our own government and the fact that managers at the post office we not alerted to the camera's existence...
As alluded to in the report when they brought up the recent congressional hearings where it was found out that address information on packages had been/is being recorded and stored.... I think the problem has much more to do with the quickly growing trend of extremely subversive surveillance than it has to do with this particular incident or surveillance in general. If its merits were being openly debated by the entities putting it in place then this would be an entirely different story. But when journalistic inquires are met with secrecy and form letters? Go and ask your local police about the cameras on certain corners and I'd bet you're more likely to get a more personable/human answer than was obtained here in this story. Just my take.
Also... I think most people can plainly see the merit in having cameras mounted on street corners if they have ever been involved in a he said/she said style accident at one of those street corners. Not saying it makes it right or wrong but I think it's easier for people to see the merit in something like that where it might actually protect them personally from someone doing something reckless. How often are people genuinely afraid of dangerous packages outside of ticking boxes in movies or ricin scares in the media? I think it's far more likely that the cameras you speak of at intersections would take a dangerous man off the streets (drunk drivers, criminals on the run) before a post office camera. Again, doesn't make it right or wrong in my mind, but it does make it a bigger deal.
Poindexter called it TIA: Total Information Awareness. He was probably told to promote it because it was already being done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Information_Awareness
Whereas if you can buy stamps anonymously then discreetly drop a package of in an unmonitored mailbox, you're doing fairly well on the anonymity. (Assuming you're using untraceable cash, didn't leave fingerprints, hair, writing style, printer fingerprint, etc.) The best they get is a day + one point of physical presence.
Edit: Making it so severe is that the apparently preferred way to get stamps is the machines that print out uniquely marked stamps. Last time I tried all this, I had to go out of my way to find non-serialed stamps that I could pay for with cash.
The Post Office is a federal agency. And this is Fox News.
Different Fox News than the one everyone loves to watch and hate. (Instead of ignore.)
Every single news station does that, not just your local Fox. Every single one.
They LOVE disasters. The 3 R's they call it. Rapes, Robberies, Disasters/Wrecks/Riots.
It got too annoying for me - I don't watch news anymore, just read it.