acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

News


Latest News News Archive Refine your search:
subjectLegal Aspects
authorThe Washington Post
bg-corner

An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Supreme Court Weighs Software Patents
From ACM TechNews

Supreme Court Weighs Software Patents

It is not yet clear whether the U.S. Supreme Court will help bring greater clarity to the rules governing software patents.

In New Case, Supreme Court Revisits the Question of Software Patents
From ACM News

In New Case, Supreme Court Revisits the Question of Software Patents

If you write a book or a song, you can get copyright protection for it. If you invent a pill or a better mousetrap, you can patent it.

Tor ­sage in Turkey Surges During Twitter Ban
From ACM News

Tor ­sage in Turkey Surges During Twitter Ban

Since Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan implemented a ban on Twitter late last week, Tor usage in the country has surged—with connections nearly doubling...

Why Mh370 Could Still Talk to Satellites After Its Other Comms Went Dark
From ACM News

Why Mh370 Could Still Talk to Satellites After Its Other Comms Went Dark

It's the latest mystery in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Was a key communications system on board the plane disabled before or after the co-pilot calmly...

Federal Agencies Embrace New Technology and Strategies to Find the Enemy Within
From ACM News

Federal Agencies Embrace New Technology and Strategies to Find the Enemy Within

After years of focusing on outside threats, the federal government and its contractors are turning inward, aiming a range of new technologies and counterintelligence...

Hackers Allegedly Stole $400 Million in Bitcoins. Here's How to Catch Them.
From ACM Opinion

Hackers Allegedly Stole $400 Million in Bitcoins. Here's How to Catch Them.

On Friday, what had been the world's leading Bitcoin exchange declared bankrutpcy, claiming that hackers had exploited a technical issue called "transaction malleability...

Obama's Big Plan to Protect Businesses from Cyberattack
From ACM News

Obama's Big Plan to Protect Businesses from Cyberattack

It's been a long time coming, and some experts say it isn't enough.

New Surveillance Technology Can Track Everyone in an Area for Several Hours at a Time
From ACM News

New Surveillance Technology Can Track Everyone in an Area for Several Hours at a Time

Shooter and victim were just a pair of pixels, dark specks on a gray streetscape. 

'a Fema-Level Fail': The Law Professor Who Coined 'net Neutrality' Lashes Out at the Fcc's Legal Strategy
From ACM Opinion

'a Fema-Level Fail': The Law Professor Who Coined 'net Neutrality' Lashes Out at the Fcc's Legal Strategy

Back in 2003, when he was a law professor at the University of Virginia, Tim Wu wrote the definitive paper on net neutrality.

Dogecoins and Litecoins and Peercoins Oh My: What You Need to Know About Bitcoin Alternatives
From ACM News

Dogecoins and Litecoins and Peercoins Oh My: What You Need to Know About Bitcoin Alternatives

By now, most people have heard of Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer currency whose value has soared over the past couple of years.

Edward Snowden, After Months of Nsa Rvelations, Says His Mission's Accomplished
From ACM Opinion

Edward Snowden, After Months of Nsa Rvelations, Says His Mission's Accomplished

The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words.

How One Publisher Is Stopping Academics from Sharing Their Research
From ACM News

How One Publisher Is Stopping Academics from Sharing Their Research

One of the world's largest academic publishers has launched a wide-ranging takedown spree, demanding that several different universities take down their own scholars'...

Judge: Nsa’s Collecting of Phone Records Is Probably Unconstitutional
From ACM TechNews

Judge: Nsa’s Collecting of Phone Records Is Probably Unconstitutional

A district court judge has ruled the U.S. National Security Agency's daily collection of virtually all Americans' phone records is almost certainly unconstitutional...

Nsa ­ses Google Cookies to Pinpoint Targets For Hacking
From ACM TechNews

Nsa ­ses Google Cookies to Pinpoint Targets For Hacking

Documents released by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden indicate the agency uses Internet cookies to hack indivuals' computers. 

From ACM News

Fbi's Search For 'mo,' Suspect in Bomb Threats, Highlights ­se of Malware For Surveillance

The man who called himself "Mo" had dark hair, a foreign accent and—if the pictures he emailed to federal investigators could be believed—an Iranian military uniform...

When Bitcoins Go Bad: 4 Stories of Fraud, Hacking, and Digital Currencies
From ACM News

When Bitcoins Go Bad: 4 Stories of Fraud, Hacking, and Digital Currencies

With Bitcoin interest (and prices) spiking, you might be considering investing in your own little cache of digital currency.

Supreme Court Declines Case on Making Online Retailers Collect Sales Taxes
From ACM News

Supreme Court Declines Case on Making Online Retailers Collect Sales Taxes

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to get involved in state efforts to force online retailers such as Amazon.com to collect sales tax from customers even in places...

Google Books Ruling Is a Huge Victory For Online Innovation
From ACM News

Google Books Ruling Is a Huge Victory For Online Innovation

 It's taken almost a decade, but the courts have finally handed down a ruling on Google's audacious project to scan millions of books to build a book search engine...

Here's What the Morris Worm Prosecutor Thinks About Aaron Swartz
From ACM Opinion

Here's What the Morris Worm Prosecutor Thinks About Aaron Swartz

It was 25 years ago Tuesday that The New York Times first named 23-year-old Cornell graduate student Robert Morris as the culprit behind what became known as the...

How a Grad Student Trying to Build the First Botnet Brought the Internet to Its Knees
From ACM Careers

How a Grad Student Trying to Build the First Botnet Brought the Internet to Its Knees

On November 3, 1988, 25 years ago Sunday, people woke up to find the Internet had changed forever.
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account