However, there are sometimes some creative ways SOME post office providers can trace mail (perhaps at the expense of all our privacy), so you might let them know so that they can investigate.

In specific, one Internet Service Provider (ISP) recently contacted us to tell us they had located the source of mail that was impersonating us; the mail was sent by one of their customers. They were able to figure this out because they have implemented a system where they record the times that each of their subscribers dials in to connect to the Internet, and keeps track of their Internet Protocol (IP) Address (dynamic number given to your computer each time you dial in, that makes your computer unique on the Internet). With this information, they were able to cross reference the time at which the mail was dropped at the post office, with the time at which the user was logged in, all together with the unique computer IP Address on the internet.

This was wonderful...though it does stink a bit of Big Brother. Basically, it means that this ISP is tracking all users and when they are on the internet. Thought they might not have enough information in their database to know exactly what you did, they may be able to cross reference their logs with records on other computers on the internet and reconstruct your all your online activities. In this case, they did just exactly that.

In the end, they still might have been wrong. So, they proceeded with caution to ask the individual if they were guilty, and the user confessed. We also called the user, and they told us they would stop using our name fraudulently.

Great, but do we really want Joe Blow ISP vendor to have this information?