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
I Just Want Nate Silver to Tell Me It's All Going to Be Fine
Evan has a habit. He's not ashamed of it, but he doesn't want to reveal too much about himself, lest his colleagues learn how he’s spending so much of his time.
From ACM Opinion
The Feds Will Soon Be Able to Legally Hack Almost Anyone
Digital devices and software programs are complicated. Behind the pointing and clicking on screen are thousands of processes and routines that make everything work...
From ACM Opinion
At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality
Twenty-five years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee unleashed the World Wide Web, publishing the first public webpage. Well, maybe.
From ACM Opinion
How One Journalist ses Social Media to Get Inside the Minds of Isis
Rukmini Callimachi is arguably the best reporter on the most important beat in the world. As a New York Times correspondent covering terrorism, her work explores...
From ACM Opinion
Werner Herzog's Web
Werner Herzog gazes solemnly at the metal exoskeleton. The set of robotic arms lies slumped in a laboratory on the UCLA campus, surrounded by empty cardboard boxes...
From ACM Opinion
Cozmo Is an Artificially Intelligent Toy Truck That's Also the Future of Robotics
Hanns Tappeiner types a few lines of code into his laptop and hits "return."
From ACM Opinion
After Orlando, the Homemade Ar-15 Industry Surges
In the wake of the worst mass shooting in US history, many Americans want to ban civilians from buying the AR-15, that ultra-popular, all-American killing tool.
From ACM Opinion
Orlando Shows the Limits of Facebook's Terror Policing
Both leading up to and during his deadly assault on Orlando night club Pulse, Omar Mateen accessed his Facebook account.
From ACM Opinion
Peek Into the Weird and Wonderful Age of AI (yes, There's a Chatbot)
On March 23, Microsoft revealed Tay, a Twitter bot trained to chat like a millennial. It worked … too well.
From ACM Opinion
Okcupid Study Reveals the Perils of Big-Data Science
On May 8, a group of Danish researchers publicly released a dataset of nearly 70,000 users of the online dating site OkCupid, including usernames, age, gender,...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Encryption Is in These Politicians' Hands
Encryption is complicated. Legislating for it, even more so.
From ACM Opinion
700 Million People Just Got Encryption That Congress Can't Touch
Last month, WhatsApp, the hugely popular messaging service that Facebook owns, made end-to-end encryption the default for its 1 billion users. On Tuesday, Viber...
From ACM Opinion
You Pay to Read Research You Fund. That's Ludicrous
In 2011, developer and researcher Alexandra Elbakyan launched Sci-Hub, an online archive that shares research articles freely and openly without paywalls or restrictions...
From ACM Opinion
The Senate's Draft Encryption Bill Is 'ludicrous, Dangerous, Technically Illiterate'
As Apple Battled the FBI for the last two months over the agency's demands that Apple help crack its own encryption, both the tech community and law enforcement...
From ACM Opinion
Apple's Carekit Is the Best Argument Yet For Strong Encryption
On the eve of his company’s court date with the FBI, where it will defend its right to not weaken the security of its own devices, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage...
From ACM News
How the Feds Could Get Into Iphones Without Apple's Help
It's a showdown that has the country mesmerized.
From ACM Opinion
Forcing Apple to Hack That Iphone Sets a Dangerous Precedent
Are Apple and other tech companies somehow against America's national security if they create uncrackable encryption software that government investigators or even...
From ACM News
Apple's Fbi Battle Is Complicated. Here's What's Really Going On
The news this week that a magistrate ordered Apple to help the FBI hack an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooter suspects has polarized the nation—and...
From ACM Opinion
The President's Nsa Advisory Board Finally Gets a Tech Expert
It's taken more than a decade, but a critical oversight board tasked with advising the president on the privacy and civil liberties implications of the NSA's surveillance...
From ACM Opinion