An iPhone-wielding cop used his Find My iPhone app to track down a thief in Midtown in under 30 minutes on Thursday. After a cashier at Tuci Italia was robbed of her phone around 7 p.m., officer Robert Garland, who the Times describes as "an avid Apple consumer—he and his wife own iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers," put her Apple ID into his Find My iPhone app and saw the victim's phone was a few blocks away. "I told her when I walked in, 'I'm going to find your iPhone,' " Garland says, in what will surely be a line in a Liam Neeson movie next year. more ›

Governor Cuomo's State of the State speech was chock-full of curious incursions into New Yorker's privacy. And we aren't just talking about the whole fingerprinting folks who want food stamps debate. Oh, no. Slipped in there amidst all that gambling talk was also a plan to make New York the first state in the country to collect DNA from anyone convicted of a crime here. And that includes misdemeanors like jumping turnstiles. more ›

According to CNN, some malls in the US rolled out a new technology on Black Friday that allows retailers to track customers' cell phone signals while they're shopping. The technology is already being used in Europe and Australia, and it was scheduled to be tried out in two malls in California and Virginia. That was until Senator Chuck Schumer put a stop to it. more ›

GM's OnStar system is so concerned about finding you the closest car wash and finding you an Ethiopian restaurant that the company tracks the location and speed of its customers long after their subscriptions have expired. US Senator and Big Apple Juice enemy Chuck Schumer takes issue with OnStar knowing where you are and whether you're listening to Linkin Park. "OnStar is attemping one of the most brazen invasions of privacy in recent memory," Schumer tells CBS. "I urge OnStar to abandon." There's no point in abandoning your vehicle though: that OnStar computer chip lodged in your temple isn't going anywhere. more ›

It must be frustrating working at the CIA sometimes, what with all those stifling rules keeping you from spying on suspicious Americans. Thankfully, there's a solution for spooks with an itch to snoop domestically: Just shuffle on over to the NYPD, which has been working closely with the CIA since 2002, when veteran CIA division head David Cohen came out of retirement to run a secretive police intelligence team. In a thorough 5,000 word article, the AP reports that the division's counterterrorism tactics have gone further than what the FBI allows, and they're probably illegal. more ›

If Mayor Bloomberg has his way, street sweeper drivers could soon do double duty as shutterbugs, with cameras installed on their cacophonous machines to capture parking scofflaws. At Bloomberg's request, Long Island Republican Senator Dean Skelos "quietly" introduced a bill last month to permit the city to install cameras on street sweepers, the Times reports. It's a big step for Big Brother, and would follow in the footsteps of other cities like D.C., where the contraptions are called "Sweepercams." Now all we need is Albany to take action! more ›

Remember those nifty electronic fingerprinting machines that the NYPD debuted in September to fingerprint people on the scene of a crime? Probably not, because the cops usually flash that Men In Black thingy in your face afterwards. But the concern at the time was: what happens to the fingerprints after they're gathered if you're not charged with a crime? more ›

Starting in the spring, the MTA will be installing surveillance cameras on 400 buses with routes in Manhattan. MTA spokesman Charles Seaton tells us that the cameras will have a view of the entire length of the bus, which means we'll have decent B-roll if NYC ever gets an Epic Beard Man fight. According to agency documents obtained by the Post, if the program is successful, the number of camera-equipped buses could grow to 1,150. more ›

Yesterday, the NYPD began photographing and scanning prisoners' irises as they pass through Central Booking, as part of a $500,000 program that the department expects to expand citywide. The new high-tech identification program was ostensibly created to keep prisoners from slipping away as they move through the court system—in two embarrassing incidents earlier this year, two prisoners escaped detention by posing as another perp at arraignment. But civil libertarians and defense attorneys were caught off-guard by the new policy, which the NYPD implemented without any legislative oversight. Spokesman Paul Browne says there's a simple reason for that. more ›

In the name of fighting crime and terrorism, the Obama administration is reportedly planning to propose a new measure to Congress that would require all companies with "products allowing Internet communication" to build a backdoor to their encryption so the information can be accessed by the government. This would all be with a court order, of course, but if passed it would mean that the government could monitor private conversations on Twitter, Facebook, Skype or any other social network you access at work. Because the most important part of any terrorist plot is to go on Twitter with, "Gettin ready 2 bomb temple! FU, Jews! #hatersgonnahate." more ›

500 new surveillance cameras went live yesterday inside the Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central subway station, and 500 more are on the way. At a press conference yesterday at the Minority Reportish Lower Manhattan Security Coordination Center, Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly unveiled the new surveillance system, which provides real-time video images to the command center, and can analyze thousands of images to find a particular item. "If we're looking for a person in a red jacket, we can call up all the red jackets filmed in the last 30 days," Kelly told reporters. "We're beginning to use software that can identify suspicious objects or behaviors." (Note to terrorists: red jackets are not a good look for you.) more ›

Last Friday Governor Paterson signed legislation ending the NYPD's electronic database of innocent individuals who wind up on the receiving end of the controversial "stop and frisk" policy. The citywide database had swelled to include the names, addresses, and phone numbers of over 1 million people, most of whom are black or Hispanic and were never charged with a crime. By law, the NYPD is required to erase the electronic database, but that doesn't mean they can't track this information the old fashioned way! more ›

Despite considerable pressure from Mayor Bloomberg and NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, Governor Paterson will today sign legislation ending the NYPD's electronic database of innocent individuals who wind up on the receiving end of the controversial "stop and frisk" policy. Kelly met personally with Paterson twice this week to ask him to veto the bill, presenting the governor with summaries of 170 cases since 2007 in which he said the database proved pivotal in identifying and apprehending perps. According to the Times, those included 17 murders, 36 robberies and 8 sex crimes. more ›

More than 85% of people stopped and frisked by the NYPD are released without an arrest or summons. But regardless of innocence, the NYPD has been keeping a database of personal information on more than 100,000 people who are stopped, questioned, frisked, and released each year. Today the NYCLU has filed a class action lawsuit [pdf] to get the NYPD to seal all personal records of people who were stopped and frisked, were arrested or issued a summons, and whose cases "ended either in dismissal or only the payment of a fine for a noncriminal violation." The lead plaintiffs are two NYC residents who were stopped and frisked by police officers but subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. In this video, they explain what happened: more ›

The junk food industry is going to war against the Bloomberg administration's big public health push, spending $1 million on an ad campaign asking New Yorkers, "When did the Big Apple become Big Brother?" But Bloomberg isn't sweating the industry's measly million in ads, and defended his hands-on approach to health yesterday, telling reporters, "A little impetus from the government really does improve the public health of the average person. If you want to drink sugared drinks, you're going to have a weight problem, and maybe government should tax it to keep you from doing it." And if taxes don't persuade you to put down the Big Gulp, maybe a little trip to Room 101 will do the trick. more ›

Tender-hearted readers, be warned: You may cry (from happiness) over this. A 95-year-old man has been a "Big Brother" to a 37-year-old man for the past 30 years! In 1979, Chester Ross decided to participate in Big Brothers program in Westchester—skeptically since he was 65 with grandchildren— and met David Loughran, "a timid 7-year-old...being raised by his divorced mother." Though most Big Brother/Big Sister relationships last till the little sibling is 18, they've been friends for much longer: Ross put Loughran through college ("What else was I going to do? By then he was part of my family"), gave him career advice, and served as his best man five years ago. Ross recalled, "Be a best man when you're 90 years old? But I told him I would do it under one condition. I wanted nothing to do with the bachelor party." Loughran, who gave a son the middle name "Ross," said, "I was shy, and he helped me with my self-confidence. He encouraged me to read and get educated. He became a big part of my family, and he accepted me into his family." Awwww. Here's more information about Big Brothers/Big Sisters. more ›

In addition to taking your money, an increasing number restaurants are also taking video of your dining experience, at least according to the Post’s trend-spotting Carla Spartos. She notes five Manhattan restaurants that use closed-circuit video cameras to record customers in their dining rooms: Boqueria, the four star Daniel, Dos Caminos, Philippe, and Momofuku Noodle Bar. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a serious trauma at East 16th St. and Moore Pl. in Brooklyn, a water search at Kosciusko Bridge in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on Lexington Ave. in Manhattan,
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who popularized transcendentalism in the West with the support of The Beatles, died yesterday at an undetermined age.
• Postmodern reality at its best: Silvercup Studios, where "Gossip Girl," is filmed could actually become an educational institution.
• A Whole Foods location is opening in Gowanus, Brooklyn, after groundbreaking last spring and much consternation.
• Going against the grain of many city mayors who are declaring their municipalities a safe haven for illegal immigrants, Mayor Mark Boughton of Danbury, CT wants to align his police force with federal law enforcement to crack down on undocumented workers.
• Brooklyn's 4th Ave. has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last five years. The new-and-improved version seems equally unimpressive to some.
• Customers at the Grand Central Oyster Bar who want to order New England clam chowder will have to ask for "Giants Clam Chowder" this week.
• Big Brother is a salesman. He wants to follow you to sell you stuff.

Less than 6 hours until kickoff at Lambeau Field and it's a balmy -6° in Green Bay. With winds at 15 miles per hour, Accuweather's real feel temperatures are -18°. While temperatures will increase by game time, it's still going to be ass-cold. more ›

Filmmaker Ethan Coen has left his big brother behind and written three short plays all by himself. Called Almost an Evening, the triptych will be produced by the Atlantic Theater Company with a terrific cast that includes Elizabeth Marvel, who was riveting in Ivo van Hove’s unforgettable revival of Hedda Gabler, and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. The plays “unsuccessfully tackle important questions. In Waiting, someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In Four... more ›

Fox News Porn Robert Greenwald, the man behind the 2004 documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism which concluded that Fox News Channel is biased to the right based on memos and footage from the network, is at it again. This time around he is using clips from the channel culled from six months of broadcasts featuring women in bikinis and pixilated nudity in a YouTube video and website that mimics a porn site called... more ›

Long time New York resident David Wain is currently on location in LA, working on his latest film, Little Big Men, starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Wain's been spending a lot of time in LA due to his career, but, don't worry, he doesn't plan on moving there anytime soon. In fact, the only place the star of Stella and The State plans on moving is Brooklyn. In this Gothamist Q and A, the director of Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten talks about what it's like to film in New York and Wainy Days, his foray into intentional Internet shorts on MyDamnChannel.com . more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off West St. at Battery Place in Manhattan, missing children on Grimsby St. on Staten Island, and a DOA floater in the Harlem River off Manhattan.
• New Yorkers may have just seen their water bill rates hiked 11.5% three months ago, but officials are now saying property owners can expect a rate increase of another 18% as early as the start of next year.
• Idle speculation at Eater about the future of the Brooklyn Inn in Boerum Hill is not appreciated by the bar's manager. [Caution: strong language]
• Mayor Bloomberg worked out a tentative new contract with the NYPD detectives union that promises a 20% pay raise over the next four years via higher salaries. A first grade detective with more than 20 years on the force will be able to earn more than $118,000 a annually.
• Fare Wars II: The Taxi Strike's Back. NYC cab drivers will have another go at striking in protest of GPS devices in their cars this Wednesday.
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker has a special vested interested in improving living conditions for young people in his city. He serves as a Big Brother to three teen-aged young men, attempting to mentor them towards the straight and narrow.
• The Daily Intelligencer locates a rather large TBS billboard that will be salt in the wounds of disappointed Mets fans.
• A man was shot to death by the man he was playing dice with outside a building on West 131st St. in Manhattan this morning.

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With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. more ›

This is something we all learned while watching the first season of The Real World (but probably forgot sometime around Big Brother, The Bachelor and every other "reality show" that quickly sprouted up). NYMag has a review from the premiere, where apparently "covetable gift bags" were handed out (we hear they contained iPods...but not iPhones). more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Gail Donoghue, special counsel for the city’s Law Department, began the hearing by telling Judge Haight that he overstepped his judicial powers in February when he essentially made his own court the enforcer for police guidelines that govern the investigation of political activity. Ms. Donoghue said that by making the court the final arbiter of police surveillance issues, the judge had in fact begun to “oversee operations of the Intelligence Division of the Police Department.” more ›

After its story about how the NYPD spied on organizations for at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, the NY Times reports that the city wants to keep NYPD records sealed, in fear that the media will "fixate upon and sensationalize them." Well, that's probably too late. more ›