Brad Feld posts about the latest odd Patriot Act foolishness: the requirement for a non-PO Box mailing address. In Brad’s case, that’s impossible since he doesn’t have a physical mailing address. And, as he notes, it’s rather ironic, since the government won’t let you use a government-provided mailing address as your official mailing address. Seems like the government — which is worried about people spoofing their identity by hiding their address — could solve this issue by oh, I don’t know, maybe instructing those federal employees who work at the government agency to, well, have people who ask for PO Boxes to verify their identity in some meaningful way.
Brad’s figured out a solution to the problem, but isn’t spilling the beans.
This is how it starts, Brad. First stop, you’re fighting unseen powers in the government. Before long, you’re changing your identity and on the run from shadowy figures with bad accents who are hell-bent on destroying you. Then you have to change your identity, living your life on the run. Take solace in the fact that it’ll make good TV.
2 responses to “Patriot Act infinite loop”
Not to defend the Postal Service. I work there and there are a lot of goofy policies, but I do know that you can't get a PO box without verification of your actual address that you put on the application for the box.
I've been taking lessons on how to be more like Jack Bauer.