Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
What to Expect Now That Internet Providers Can Collect and Sell Your Web Browser History
After Congress handed President Trump legislation Tuesday that would wipe away landmark privacy protections for Internet users, we received a lot of reader questions...
From ACM Opinion
Listen, Technology Holdouts: Enough Is Enough
Even as fanatic customers can be counted on to line up outside the Apple store for the latest iPhone, there are still millions of Americans who don't use a smartphone...
From ACM Opinion
How to Sit Courtside at a Basketball Game Without Leaving Your Couch
One of the promises that virtual reality offered was that we'd all be able to watch "courtside" sports games without having to leave our couches.
From ACM Opinion
'I Don't Intend to Go Crawl Under a Rock': An Exit Interview with FCC Chairman Tom Wheele
If you're familiar with the comedian John Oliver, then you may also remember the man he once memorably called a "dingo." That's Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the...
From ACM Opinion
Robots Won't Kill the Workforce. They'll Save the Global Economy.
The United Nations forecasts that the global population will rise from 7.3 billion to nearly 10 billion by 2050, a big number that often prompts warnings about...
From ACM Opinion
How Donald Trump Will Dismantle Obama's Internet Legacy
President-elect Donald Trump could eviscerate some of the most significant tech policies of the 21st century, all but erasing President Obama's Internet agenda...
From ACM Opinion
Ted Cruz Is Wrong About How Free Speech Is Censored on the Internet
Sen. Ted Cruz wants to engineer a United States takeover of a key Internet organization, ICANN, in the name of protecting freedom of expression.
From ACM Opinion
Tim Cook: Running Apple 'is Sort of a Lonely Job'
On a sleek white coffee table in Apple CEO Tim Cook's fourth-floor office in late July, beneath framed posters of Robert F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's President Explains the Company's Quiet Legal War For ser Privacy
Apple's legal battle over encryption dominated headlines earlier this year, but another tech giant is fighting a quieter legal war over user privacy: Microsoft....
From ACM Opinion
America Wants to Believe China Can't Innovate. Tech Tells a Different Story.
Silicon Valley may be powered by organic kale, but when Chinese tech gurus gather at 3W, a coffee shop-slash-incubator in the Chinese capital, they want sunflower...
From ACM Opinion
A Court Is About to Make One of the Most Important Decisions in the History of the Internet
If you thought the battle over net neutrality ended when the Federal Communications Commission slapped a series of unprecedented rules on Internet providers last...
From ACM Opinion
The Creepy, Inescapable Advertisements That Could Define Virtual Reality
When cookie giant Oreo wanted to promote its latest flavors, its marketing heads decided to spice up its traditional TV ads with something not just new, but otherworldly...
From ACM Opinion
This One Thing Could Hurt Apple's Case in Washington
Apple's fight with the FBI is widening beyond the courts.
From ACM Opinion
The Case For Looking to the States, Not the Federal Government, to Protect Your Privacy
A year ago, President Obama stood behind a podium at the Federal Trade Commission and called for legislation that would set a single national standard for when...
From ACM Opinion
Why It's So Hard For Washington to Draft Tech Companies Against the Islamic State
Here's the basic problem the government faces when it comes to stopping the Islamic State's Internet propaganda: It needs Silicon Valley's help. But some tech companies—even...
From ACM Opinion
Why the Ftc Is Showing p at Hackers' Biggest Conferences
The Federal Trade Commission, the de facto federal watchdog for consumers' privacy and data security, knows it needs help.
From ACM Opinion
The Latest Oculus Headset Made Me Want to Throw p. In a Good Way.
Virtual reality and its viability as a consumer technology is a huge theme at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, a Los Angeles convention for the video...
From ACM Opinion
How the Country's Top Privacy Cop Is Trying to Protect Consumers in the Digital Age
As the digital economy has exploded, tech companies are collecting untold amounts of data on everyday Americans.
From ACM Opinion
The Real Winners in the Fight Over Government Surveillance
After the Senate passed legislation aimed at reforming a program that collected data about the phone calls of millions of Americans, Senate Majority Leader Mitch...
From ACM Opinion