Communications of the ACM
The news archive provides access to past news stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2022
From ACM News
Biden DHS Creates New Board to Police 'Disinformation'
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is starting a new office, the Disinformation Governance Board, that will focus on countering "misinformation" and "disinformation."
From ACM News
FBI Conducted Potentially Millions of Searches of Americans' Data Last Year, Report Says
Searches in national-security investigations came without warrants, could stoke privacy concerns in Congress.
From ACM News
Google Forces Developers to Explain Data Collection
Developers can begin declaring how they use collected data, with a deadline of July 20 to complete their submissions.
From ACM News
How French Fiber Optic Cable Attacks Accentuate Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities
Ciaran Martin, founding head of the U.K.'s National Cyber Security Centre and now an Oxford University professor, called the attacks "extraordinary" in a tweet.
From ACM TechNews
U.K. Brownies to Learn Coding in Bid to Involve More Girls in Technology
Brownies, the second-youngest section of Girlguiding (scouting) in the U.K. for girls aged 7–10, are learning to code, while Guides (ages 10-14) are working with chatbots.
From ACM TechNews
Japanese Rail Company Rolls Out VR-Piloted Gundam Robot Worker
Several companies in Japan cooperated to create and deploy a humanoid heavy equipment maintenance robot that is directed through virtual reality (VR).
From ACM TechNews
China's Weibo Shows User Locations to Combat 'Bad Behavior'
Chinese social media application Weibo will publish users' Internet Protocol addresses on their account pages and when they post comments, in order to rein in "bad behavior" online.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Monitor Subsurface CO2 Storage
Texas A&M University researchers demonstrated that unsupervised machine learning algorithms could analyze data from a geological carbon sequestration site to determine and model underground carbon dioxide (CO2) plume locations…
From ACM News
Intel CEO Sees Chip Shortage Lasting Into 2024
Semiconductor giant says quarterly sales fell amid sagging demand for lower-end laptops.
From ACM News
Boston's New CIO to Focus on Unlocking City Data
Santiago Garces will start as CIO of the New England city in May, following top roles in open-data efforts in South Bend and Pittsburgh.
From ACM News
Governments Intentionally Shut Down Internet 182 Times Across 34 Countries in 2021: Report
Access Now noted the biggest offender was India, which shut down its Internet in sections of the country at least 106 times. This is the fourth consecutive year India has topped the list.
From ACM News
A Heart-Pounding Supercar Aims to Upend How Cars Are Built
The Czinger 21C is made with 3D printers. "If he's successful," an analyst said, "it will be an earthquake for the industry."
From ACM News
DARPA: Safeguarding Data for Stronger Democracy
The agency is using emerging encryption techniques to protect data in transit, in storage, and during computation.
From ACM News
Russia Is Being Hacked at an Unprecedented Scale
Many cybercriminals and ransomware groups have links to Russia and don't target the nation. Now, it's being opened up.
From ACM News
Facebook Doesn’t Know What It Does With Your Data, Or Where It Goes: Leaked Document
"We do not have an adequate level of control and explainability over how our systems use data," Facebook engineers say in leaked document.
From ACM TechNews
An Easier Way to Teach Robots New Skills
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a machine learning method that enables robots to acquire new skills using a handful of human examples.
From ACM TechNews
Laser-Based 3D Printer Produces Complex Objects in Any Order
Stanford University researchers have developed a three-dimensional printing system that can construct objects in any order, instead of layer by layer.
From ACM TechNews
Researchers Use ML to Speed Up Counting of Microplastics
Researchers have proposed a new machine learning method to accelerate the counting and classification of microplastics, while also boosting affordability and ease of use.
From ACM News
Apple Opens Self-Repair Store With $300 iPhone Screens, 19-Cent Screws
You can now access official manuals and parts, but for most people, the minimal savings won't be worth it.
From ACM News
New Approaches to Biometric Security
The latest biometric security methods place a priority on contactless identification.
From ACM News
U.S., 60 Global Partners Launch Declaration for the Future of the Internet
The Declaration represents "a political commitment among Declaration partners to advance a positive vision for the Internet and digital technologies."
From ACM News
Russia Uses Cyberattacks in Ukraine to Support Military Strikes, Report Finds
A study by Microsoft shows that Russian cyberattacks often happened within days or even hours of missile strikes.
From ACM News
Cloudflare Detects One of the Largest DDoS Attacks on Record Targeting Crypto Platform
The attack, which lasted less than 15 seconds, was launched from a botnet of approximately 6,000 unique bots and originated from 112 countries around the world.
From ACM News
1 Million AI Experts Needed, KAIST President Says
Lawmakers, experts propose policy options for incoming Yoon government.
From ACM TechNews
Ukraine Sounds Alarm on Chinese Drones, Opening Skies to U.S. Startups
Hundreds of small drones from U.S. startups are searching for survivors and Russian hideouts in Ukraine, after Ukrainian government officials cited Chinese drones as a security risk.
From ACM TechNews
Intel Develops AI to Detect Emotional States of Students
An artificial intelligence software solution developed by Intel and Classroom Technologies to identify students' emotional states is generating controversy in the context of ethics and privacy.
From ACM TechNews
Chip Startups Using Light Instead of Wires Gain Speed, Investments
Momentum and capital are building for startups developing chips that process data via light rather than wires.
From ACM TechNews
Improved Approach to the 'Traveling Salesperson Problem' Could Boost Logistics, Transport Sectors
Researchers have developed an enhanced approach to the Traveling Salesperson Problem that yields high-quality solutions at a faster rate than other cutting-edge tools.
From ACM News
House-Flipping Algorithms are Coming to Your Neighborhood
Despite millions of dollars in losses, iBuying's failure doesn't signal the end of tech-led disruption, just a fumbled beginning.
From ACM News
Estimating the Informativeness of Data
MIT researchers can now estimate how much information data are likely to contain, in a more accurate and scalable way than previous methods.