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Richard Nixon has forever sullied the word "files" -- to the point that Andrew Cuomo's office denies that a file kept on a reporter is in fact a "file."

Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo's Press Secretary Josh Vlasto interrupted his vacation so he could appear on the radio show of Cuomo apologist/New York Post state capitol bureau chief Fred Dicker to explain that a "file" kept by Cuomo's flack on a reporter who's often critical of the governor wasn't as Nixonian as members of the media were making it out to be.

The "file" (although, Cuomo's office disputes that the document is in fact a "file") on Albany reporter Elizabeth Benjamin was provided to Buzzfeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith by a "political operative."

We've seen it, and Vlasto has a point -- it's just a collection of blog posts, some of which Cuomo's Communications Director Richard Bamberger deemed "generally snarky."

However, the fact that the "file" even exists, as Smith points out, is indicative of the paranoia Cuomo's office has with how the gov is perceived in the media, which is why people like Dicker (and maybe only Dicker) -- who don't have a bad thing to say about Cuomo -- have total access to the governor, while the rest of us can seldom get even a response from the second floor. Cuomo's picking and choosing which members of the fourth estate he considers friendly enough to speak with might also have something to do with his current 70-percent approval rating.

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www.firstkiss.com

Andrew Cuomo cheerleader/New York Post state capitol bureau chief Fred Dicker may have the right idea with his incessant butt-smooching of his main-man Cuomo -- if you don't want the gov's office to keep a "file" on you, that is.

An aide to the governor reportedly kept a "file" on a reporter who he felt was "generally snarky" in her coverage of Cuomo -- although, given past governors' "file" keeping on those who opposed them politically (Elliot Spitzer, we're looking in your direction), using the word "file" to describe the 35-page document is in dispute.

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​Governor Andrew Cuomo made it official yesterday: anyone convicted of any felony or penal law misdemeanor will have their DNA entered into a government databank.

There are obvious pros and cons to the new law -- on the positive side, having more DNA samples in the state's database will increase law enforcement's chances of solving crimes where there is DNA evidence. On the cons side, the law is a bit big brother-y -- especially when you look at some of the "crimes" that would give the government the right to someone's DNA.

Click here for a list of some of the more ridiculous crimes that would now give the government the right to take your DNA (spoil alert: being too loud in church, adultery, and fortune telling are some of the crimes on the list.

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www.glossynews.com

Shhhh...Andrew Cuomo might be listening.

​With a few flicks of his pen, Governor Andrew Cuomo this morning signed off on a new law that makes being too loud in church -- and various other supposed "crimes" -- a criminal offense that will land an offender's DNA on a government database.

The new statute, Cuomo's "All Crimes DNA" law, is the first of its kind in the entire country. Under the new law, anyone convicted of a felony, or penal law misdemeanor, has to hand their DNA over to the government so it can be added to a database with the DNA with other criminals.

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www.bluedevilnation.com

I see...I see...my DNA ending up in a government database.

​If you're a fortune teller, cheat on your spouse, or are loud in church, in New York State, the government will soon legally have the right to retrieve your DNA and put it in a DNA Databank -- that's thanks to an agreement Governor Andrew Cuomo reached with legislative leaders earlier this week on the governor's "All Crimes DNA Bill."

Previously, the state could only swipe the DNA of people convicted of violent felonies. The law was later changed to include all felonies. And now big brother's gone a step further -- anyone convicted of a "penal code misdemeanor" must now hand their DNA over to the government.

The idea is to be able to expand the database to potentially link people to unsolved crimes, which, obviously, would be beneficial for law enforcement. But civil rights groups say it goes too far, and that it opens the door for potential error and fraud at state crime labs.

Wherever you stand on the issue, it's soon to be state statute -- and the best way to avoid having to cough up your DNA is to not break the law.

That said, we went through all of New York's penal code misdemeanors, and many of them we didn't even know were crimes -- for example, if you "harass" a seeing-eye dog, or if you're convicted of "jostling," you will soon have to give your DNA to the government.

Below is a list of some of the more-ridiculous crimes -- some of which we didn't even know were illegal -- as defined by New York's Penal Code, that will get your DNA in the state's databank.

(Note: we realize many of these misdemeanors have specific intents, and aren't completely worthless. However, they're vague, and offer a lot of prosecutorial discretion, which means a malicious prosecutor could potentially roll the dice and apply them in places they were never intended to be applied. Then: ta-da! -- the government gets your DNA).

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www.bluemantshirts.com

​Big brother just got a little bigger...

Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders announced yesterday their agreement on a bill that would allow authorities to obtain the DNA of anyone convicted of a felony or a penal law misdemeanor and put it in a DNA databank that law enforcement officials could access when investigating other crimes.

The "All Crimes DNA Bill" is the first of its kind in the entire country. Previously -- in New York and everywhere else in America -- only the DNA of convicted felons was collected and entered into the databank.

In addition to giving law enforcement officials the authority to collect the DNA of those convicted of misdemeanors, the bill expands a defendant's access to DNA testing both before and after conviction "in appropriate circumstances."

Cuomo, who says he's made the bill a "centerpiece of his 2012 legislative agenda," says the following:

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The web is abuzz today with reports that the Department of Homeland Security has approved collecting of personal information from television anchors, news reporters, bloggers, and anyone else who uses social media.

The so-called Media Monitoring Initiative allows the government to keep data on people who use "traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed." The program is housed in the DHS National Operations Center.

"The new provisions in the NOC's write-up means that any reporter, whether someone along the lines of Walter Cronkite or a budding blogger, can be victimized by the agency," according to a writeup on the website, rt.com.

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One of the greatest cons (but also pros) of New York City living -- and by "pro" we mean fodder with which you may populate your upcoming memoir-disguised-as-fiction -- is a proximity to neighbors unheard of in lands just slightly west of our own. That's why you know the status of your neighbor's bronchial condition down to the minute, as well as how good their pot is, what obnoxious shows they prefer on TV, and how much "action" they get. It's also why, when someone smokes, it wafts through the walls ghostlike, ephemeral, ending up in your smoke-free apartment for a few minutes in which to make you very angry.

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Students cutting class is something that has existed ever since school was invented. But the Anaheim Union High School District school district is enacting a plan to get their kids in line. According to the Orange County Register, "seventh- and eighth-graders with four unexcused absences or more this school year are assigned to carry a hand-held GPS device about the size of a cell phone."

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It seems the feds have a little problem getting information these days, what with this whole World Wide Web thingamajig. Since people are doing less of their business by traditional phones and more of it by email, social networking sites, Skype, etc....well, old-world methods like wiretapping just don't work the same. So officials want Congress to require that these new ways we communicate be able to comply with a wiretap order, reports the New York Times. Which brings up all sorts of questions about privacy, security, technology, and progress, as well as the complicated process of even starting to think about wiretapping something as enormous and untapped as the Internet.

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