Postal Sensor Fleet Idea Gets Tentative Nod From the USPS 77
Late last year, we mentioned the idea floated by to Michael J. Ravnitzky, a chief counsel at the Postal Regulatory Commission, that the US Postal Service use its wide-ranging fleet to gather and upload useful data of all kinds — everything from weather conditions to RF coverage. Now, an anonymous reader writes "A workshop on this topic is scheduled for April 12th in Washington, DC. This month, the Postmaster General sent a letter to Senator Thomas Carper, Chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, expressing interest in exploring this concept."
Careful what you wish for.... (Score:5, Interesting)
On the surface this sounds like a good idea, provided that data is collected from sensors only - for things like radiation and chemical/biological agents.....
However, I could easily see DHS wanting to expand this to more troubling activities....
Re:It's a Makework Workshop! (Score:5, Interesting)
You do realize that the USPS gets exactly $0.00 from your taxes right? Not even a penny. Whether or not the USPS exists has absolutely no effect on the national debt. In fact even their retirements are PRE-funded so it is impossible for them to have unfunded pension issues... This is a potential revenue source for the USPS. Weather services, scientists, and others could "rent" access to the sensor information for a small nominal fee.
This also has the potential to greatly expand the available data points for any number of things and could greatly increase our ability to understand or predict natural phenomenon.
Of course people like you who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about will probably ruin the opportunity for those that aren't completely uninformed idiots.