PBS高端访问:邮政服务是如何帮助执法监控蜗牛邮件的?

 　　GWEN IFILL: As worries grow about technology, surveillance and privacy, it turns out the government is watching your snail¹ mail too. A new report from The New York Times finds the U.S. Postal² Service approved nearly 50,000 requests from law enforcement agencies last year to monitor mail.

　　Reporter Ron Nixon has been digging into that for more than a year. And he joins me now.

　　Fifty thousand requests, how many of those actually were satisfied by the feds?

　　RON NIXON, The New York Times: That's just it. We don't know a whole lot about this program beyond the numbers.

　　The Postal Service and the Postal Inspection³ Service, their law enforcement wing has been very secretive about this program.

　　GWEN IFILL: Did the program arise after 9/11 or had it previously⁴ existed?

　　RON NIXON: No, this program actually has been around since about the late 1800s. So, it's a centuries-old program.

　　What they have done is added the technical prowess to the program, but mail covers as a whole is this very old law enforcement technique.

　　GWEN IFILL: You call it mail covers.

　　RON NIXON: Yes.

　　GWEN IFILL: Describe what that — what you mean by that, because that's not actually opening your mail and looking at it.

　　RON NIXON: No, it's not actually opening your mail, then into it.

　　What this is, is basically metadata of snail mail. They copy everything that's on the outside of the packages and letters. And that lets me know who you're communicating with, your banking⁵ information, credit card, that kind of thing. So, — but it is not opening the mail. You need a warrant for that.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, it seems pretty low-tech in some respects.

　　RON NIXON: It is.

　　But they also have very high-tech⁶ — they have massive banks of computers that take pictures of every single letter and package that comes through. And they do utilize⁷ that for law enforcement purposes at times as well.

　　GWEN IFILL: Is that the reason they take — they record everything, or is just the side effect of what…

　　RON NIXON: It's a side effect. You have this technology that can do this thing, so they use it in limited ways for law enforcement purposes.

　　But the main purpose of, it is actually to deliver the mail, process and deliver the mail.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, explain to us how it works.

　　RON NIXON: So, say I'm a law enforcement agency and I'm investigating you. I go to the Postal Inspection Service saying, hey, I have reason to believe that Ms. Ifill is guilty of something or illegally running drugs.

　　I send a request to the Postal Inspection Service. They look at it. They look, say, yes, there's legitimate⁸ reason. They sign off on it and then they start to take down all the information on the letters and packages that you are both sending and receiving so they can track who you're communicating with and again, as I mentioned before, banking information, property, that kind of thing.

　　GWEN IFILL: Has it successfully curbed⁹ illegal activity in ways that you can cite me some examples?

　　RON NIXON: Yes.

　　There's been a number of examples that I have written about before. They have busted¹⁰ a prostitution ring. They have busted drug rings. They have found fugitives¹¹. So it's a legitimate law enforcement tool that everybody from the FBI to the Arlington County police would use.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, why — you spent couple years almost working on this.

　　RON NIXON: Yes.

　　GWEN IFILL: Why was it so difficult to get to the bottom of it?

　　RON NIXON: Well, because it's a program that is — they didn't want to talk about a lot.

　　We filed several Freedom of Information requests to find out the scope of this, and they still have not released to us how many times the FBI has requested mail covers, for instance. So, it's a program that they don't talk about a lot. And they have actually…

　　GWEN IFILL: In the interest of national security?

　　RON NIXON: In the interest of national security, but also because it's a law enforcement technique. And they don't want to reveal exactly how it works.

　　GWEN IFILL: OK. Let's do the flip¹² side.

　　There are things that they have stopped or they have been able to find out about.

　　RON NIXON: Right.

　　GWEN IFILL: Are there ways that this program has been misused¹³?

　　RON NIXON: Yes.

　　We did find couple of examples where the program apparently¹⁴ appears to be misused. There was — in Maricopa County, Arizona, there's a sheriff and a local county attorney who…

　　GWEN IFILL: Joe Arpaio?

　　RON NIXON: Joe Arpaio…

　　RON NIXON: … and the local county attorney there launched an investigation¹⁵ of various council members.

　　And one of them was Councilwoman Mary Rose Wilcox. And she just got a million-dollar settlement for what the — a panel for the Supreme¹⁶ Court, state Supreme Court there said appear to be a politically motivated investigation.

　　They used mail covers to track who she was doing business with and then invaded the business.

　　GWEN IFILL: So, for political purposes, it was used to target someone, allegedly?

　　RON NIXON: Allegedly.

　　GWEN IFILL: Allegedly.

　　RON NIXON: Allegedly, right.

　　GWEN IFILL: Now, here is once again — and I'm going back and forth¹⁷ because I'm curious about the most famous incident of Postal Service — illegal things happening through the Postal Service is anthrax or any kind of substance being sent to public officials. We spent a lot of time talking about that.

　　RON NIXON: Right.

　　GWEN IFILL: Is this something which is also used for that purpose?

　　RON NIXON: Yes, there's a program that they call the mail isolation¹⁸ tracking control system that was used to find Shannon Richardson, the actress had sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama and former New York Mayor Bloomberg.

　　They used this to track her mail specifically to a facility that she had mailed it from, and she had tried to blame it on her husband. And they were able to prove based on when she sent the letters that it was her, in fact.

　　GWEN IFILL: So this is — this is — obviously, there are pluses and there are minuses.

　　RON NIXON: Right.

　　GWEN IFILL: Is there some way in which this compares in any way to the NSA surveillance techniques we talk so much about?

　　RON NIXON: I think, in terms of scope, it's much, much smaller in scope, in that it can't scoop¹⁹ up as much information as the NSA does, of course, because we use the phones much more than we use letters.

　　GWEN IFILL: Right.

　　RON NIXON: And, as mail has declined, we are using it less and less. But, still, law enforcement officials consider this a very important tool.

　　GWEN IFILL: Ron Nixon of The New York Times, thank you.

　　RON NIXON: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

1 snail   

n.蜗牛

参考例句：

• Snail is a small plant-eating creature with a soft body.蜗牛是一种软体草食动物。
• Time moved at a snail's pace before the holidays.放假前的时间过得很慢。

2 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

3 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

7 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

8 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

9 curbed   

v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Advertising aimed at children should be curbed. 针对儿童的广告应受到限制。 来自辞典例句
• Inflation needs to be curbed in Russia. 俄罗斯需要抑制通货膨胀。 来自辞典例句

10 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

11 fugitives   

n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Three fugitives from the prison are still at large. 三名逃犯仍然未被抓获。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Members of the provisional government were prisoners or fugitives. 临时政府的成员或被捕或逃亡。 来自演讲部分

12 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

13 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

15 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

16 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

17 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

18 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

19 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。