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%% MAIL SECRETS %%
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%% By %%
%% Reflexive Arc %%
%% [Member: Omnipotent, Inc.] %%
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There is a little secret coding or gimmickry on U.S. mail. All U.S.
postage stamps have an invisible ink coding that fluoresces in ultraviolet
light. Partly this is to deter counterfeiting of stamps (why would anyone want
to do that?). Mostly, it is to speed up sorting. Cancelling machines shine an
ultraviolet beam on letters and check for a glow. Calcium silicate (which
glows orange-red) and zinc orthosilicate (which glows yellow-green) are used.
They are printed over the entire surface of stamps or in a geometric pattern.
Personal letters to the U.S. President have a secret numerical code. The
President often gets 10,000 letters a day. Virtually all must be opened, read,
and answered by the White House mail staff. So that letters from friends get
to the President and family unopened, all close friends are given a sequence of
numbers to write on the outside of the envelope. The code changes with each
President. Ronald Reagan's code was described as a number with a special
meaning to Reagan and his wife. Jimmy Carter used an old phone number of
Rosalyn's.
WAX SEALS
~~~~~~~~~
Wax seals are not a guarantee against unauthorized opening of a letter.
According to "The CIA Flaps and Seals Manual," edited by John M. Harrison
(Boulder, Colo.: Paladin Press, 1975), there is a way to remove and replace
seals.
First the opener takes a plaster-of-paris cast of the seal. This is set
aside to harden. The wax is gently heated with an infrared lamp. When soft,
it is rolled into a ball and set aside. The flap of the envelope is steamed
open, and the letter is taken out and photocopied.
After the envelope's contents are replaced and the flap resealed, the same
wax is used to re-create the seal. It is heated till pliable and pressed back
into shape with the plaster-of-paris mold.
One type of seal is secure, even according to "CIA Flaps and Seals
Manual": One made of two or more colors of wax melted together. The colors
inevitably come out different on the second, surreptitious pressing. But a
color Polaroid of the seal must be sent under separate cover sot that the
letter's recipient can compare it with the seal on the message letter.
None of the common seals are reliable against unauthorized opening,
assuming that knowledgeable letter-openers may want to open your mail. Scotch
tape across the flap of an envelope comes off cleanly with carbon tetrachloride
(applied with a brush or a hypodermic needle). If you suspect that someone is
opening your mail, the manual suggests sending yourself a letter containing a
sheet of carbon or wax paper. The heat and mechanical treatment of the letter
opening will smudge the carbon and melt the wax. Otherwise, you have to
examine letters carefully to detect prior opening. A torn flap, smudging of the
flap glue, flattened ridges in the flap, or concave (from the back) curling due
to steaming are evidence of opening.
A more sophisticated test requires steaming part of the envelope near the
flap for fifteen seconds. Then place the envelope under an ultraviolet lamp.
If there is a difference in florescence between the steamed and the unsteamed
part of the envelope, then the envelope paper is suitable for the test. If so,
examine the unsteamed part of the flap under the ultraviolet lamp. If it shows
a different florescence than the other unsteamed parts of
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