Here's my CSB addition... so I just moved and when I submitted my move notification to the US post office, they sent me a bunch of stuff including advertising for a service called USPS Informed Delivery.

Post 9.11, the post office has been scanning the front and back of all mail delivered in the US. This is the corollary physical post anti-terrorism measure to scooping up all text messages and email metadata. Somebody realized that these scans could turned into a service where you can see what's in your postbox without having to visit it. Helpful if you don't get to the mailbox frequently or are traveling.

I signed up for the service and they used some sort of knowledge based question to verify I actually lived at the new address. Questions like "Which of the 4 addresses did you live at previously?" The IRS has tried to lock down their systems with questions like this and failed miserably. With the amount of data accumulated about us all, if somebody wants to dig up info on you, it's possible through a myriad of data broker services.

I failed the knowledge based identity test, I was asked to bring my ID to a post office. I think either they didn't have the right profile information for me, or were confusing the profile information for a prior occupant of my new address. My driver's license has a badge from the DMV showing that I had registered the new address with the DMV. This badge was delivered by mail to the new address. I presented this ID to the post office.

After all this, my request to join the Informed Delivery program was rejected. I have notification submitted with the post office of my change of address, I presented valid DMV ID that was not accepted despite it having been correctly updated with the DMV. While I was there, I was asked to show a second form of ID which was not indicated as a requirement on the program documentation. I've escalated a request for explanation to the US post office without answer.

While I agree the US post office could provide identity verification, they are definitely not geared to actually do so.

My identity test questions were all wrong for me too. But I selected "None of the Above" for all of them and then it approved it.

The online identity verification questions were wrong for me, too. However, the in-person verification was very easy. The instructions said to bring a photo ID and proof of residence, like a lease.

The ID instruction for me was one ID from a selection of government issued IDs. I brought what was asked for. Weirdly, they also accepted a US passport where the address is written in pencil, by the holder!

http://faq.usps.com/documents/Informed_Delivery_Sign_Up_Guid...

Visiting the post office was easy. Getting them to accept my ID document was not.

Strange, we received different instructions. For me, item 8d in your link was a 2-page document that explained the need for separate address verification if the photo ID had the wrong address.

Yeah, my photo ID had the right address because I had affixed a badge mailed to me from the DMV to the new address with the correct new address printed on it. It's a legal requirement to have the badge affixed to the driver's license after 30 days from the move date.

I think if I had attempted to apply for this service at my old address, it would not have been a problem. I applied for this service around the 30 - 45 day mark after my move. I suspect the post office may be incorporating their historic data (which includes my old address) or possibly they are integrating their mailing system with DMV data (which may itself be out of date due to timing issues in data integration).

Perhaps; but the Postal Service currently operates at a near zero level of security for residential mail. Both incoming and outgoing mails said outside in an unlocked box (for many of us) that can be easily accessed by any passerby.

If (even) more of the contents of those boxes became valuable for easy impersonation and theft, the motivation for people to rummage would increase, and we would all likely pay a cost both in convenience and dollars for ordinary mail use.

> Both incoming and outgoing mails said outside in an unlocked box (for many of us) that can be easily accessed by any passerby.

Yeah, but get caught messing with mail and you can get royally screwed. I don't know of any other country where the Postal Service has its own cops with arrest powers, seems to be a pretty powerful deterrent.

There have been stories in the UK new recently, alleging postal delivery-workers were stealing and selling credit-cards from their deliveries.

For example:

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/revealed-...

Mail theft is a problem in my area. The USPS is pushing for "cluster mailboxes" which are 20+ mailboxes in one aluminum housing. The problem is they're easy to break into. I had Netflix suspend my account because so many discs went missing. The postal inspector's response was "Did you call the cops?"

We have "mail as 2FA" used pretty widely here, and identity theft usually involves someone e.g. opening a credit card or ordering products in someone elses name, and then stalking their mailbox in order to actually get anything.

So people simply got lockable mailboxes and that works pretty well.

True. But that will still protect you from a kid in Russia.

Deutsche Post does this in Germany through its PostIdent program.[1]

[1] (in German) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postident

interesting idea - and if you don't have a permanent residence you could just stop by a post office. Seems like they have the right infrastructure and are presently in need of a new business model.

They already do, to an extent. Most public libraries allow you to verify your residence by showing a piece of mail delivered to you.