Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM News
Self-Driving Taxis Are Causing All Kinds of Trouble in San Francisco
They have blocked traffic, driven on the sidewalk, sped away from cops — and the city is powerless to stop them.
From ACM News
Should Cops Be Allowed to Take Control of Self-Driving Cars?
A few lines in a seemingly routine RAND Corp. report on the future of technology and law enforcement last week raised a provocative question: Should police have...
From ACM News
Human Weakness in Cybersecurity
The Joint Chiefs of Staff unclassified email system is now back online, after having been down for more than two weeks, following a breach that some officials have...
From ACM Opinion
The Social Security Number's Insecurities
In both the Anthem insurance hack and the two Office of Personnel Management hacks this year, attackers gained access to Social Security numbers, affecting 80 million...
From ACM Opinion
Dumbing It Down in the Cockpit
Long gone are the leather jackets, goggles, and silk scarves flung over the shoulders of aviators who wrestled with flight controls, furiously scanned instruments...
From ACM TechNews
The Internet's Vulnerable Backbone
A criminal redirected the online activities of bitcoin mining groups and stole at least $83,000 worth in bitcoins over four months, according to a new report, which...
From ACM Opinion
Why Did the Justice Department Indict Five Chinese Military Officers?
At first glance, the Justice Department's 31-count indictment of five Chinese military officers for hacking into the computers of six American corporations, in...
From ACM Opinion
What Do Data Brokers Know About Me?
I once ran into a friend and her husband at the playground in our neighborhood in Manhattan.
From ACM Opinion
The Weirdest Thing About the Apple Security Bug Is How Simple It Was
So for the past 18 months, there has been a horrific security hole in many of Apple's products that has allowed "man in the middle" attacks on supposedly secure...
From ACM News
Target's Heating and Refrigeration Company Gave Hackers the Key to Customer Data
The massive Target data breach is a symbol of the need for tighter data security in big retail chains, but it's also still an evolving story in its own right.
From ACM Opinion
It's the 30th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's Monumental Decision About Betamax
Those of us who came of age in the Internet era may not know that they owe their ability to go online to a court decision 30 years ago today about a mechanically...
From ACM Opinion
Can You Hack It?
Wherever you're sitting right now, take a moment to note the connected devices around you.
From ACM Opinion
Former Nsa Chief on Latest Leaked Dragnet Spy Program: It's Real, and It's Spectacular
Does the NSA really operate a vast database that allows its analysts to sift through millions of records showing nearly everything a user does on the Internet,...
From ACM News
They're Coming for Your DNA
DNA analysis is the major crime-solving advance of our time.
From ACM Opinion
We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now
On Thursday afternoon, the FBI released photos and video of two persons of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing.
From ACM Opinion
Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?
Let me begin this column with a lengthy disclosure. One morning last week, I stopped at my bank, filled out a withdrawal slip for $1,027.51, and walked away with...
From ACM News
It's Like They’re Reading My Mind
Whether it's our location, contact lists, calendars, photo albums, or search requests, app developers, advertising companies, and other tech firms are scrambling...
From ACM News
Mind Plus Machine
Behind a locked door in a white-walled basement in a research building in Tempe, Ariz., a monkey sits stone-still in a chair, eyes locked on a computer screen.
From ACM Opinion
On Today's Battlefield, Is Information More Important Than Firepower?
Halo, Borderlands, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Metal Gear Solid—these kinds of games taught a generation to see enemies as red dots on a mini-map...
From ACM Opinion