Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
November 2013
From ACM Opinion
Should We Believe More in Big Data or in Magic?
One year I spent a lot of time with professional magicians.
From ACM Opinion
A Force For Face-to-Face Communication
Clifford I. Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford who died on Saturday, regaled me several times over the years about his method for torturing students in the undergraduate dorm hall where he was an adviser.
From ACM Opinion
What Is 4d Printing?
The biggest breakthroughs in how we make things lie not in the technology to manipulate materials but in the materials themselves.
From ACM Opinion
How Steve Jobs Made the Ipad Succeed When All Other Tablets Failed
Steve Jobs's solution to Google's Android-everywhere strategy was simple and audacious: he unveiled the iPad.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Googlification of Obamacare Really Matters
The Internet is piling yet more vitriol on the shoddy Obamacare rollout in response to a report, by Bloomberg's Alex Wayne, that the administration has recruited technology experts from Google, Oracle, and Red Hat to help fix…
From ACM Opinion
Fifth Amendment Prohibits Compelled Decryption, New EFF Brief Argues
Encryption is one of the most important ways to safeguard data from prying eyes.
From ACM Opinion
Merkel Balks at E Privacy Push
Chancellor Merkel has put on a good show of being outraged by American spying.
From Communications of the ACM
No Limits to Watching?
Considering the ethical questions raised by technologies that are moving from knowing what we are doing (and where) to knowing who we are.
From Communications of the ACM
Making Computer Science Count
Combining efforts and expertise, ACM and Code.org are partnering to address a rapidly changing education landscape.
From Communications of the ACM
What Regulators Can Do to Advance Privacy Through Design
Seeking to address the challenges of privacy by design through regulatory process and formal law.
From Communications of the ACM
Is Software Patentable?
Assessing the shifting perspectives on patentability standards for software.
From Communications of the ACM
Augmented Reality Browsers: Essential Products or Only Gadgets?
How lessons learned from the evolution of the Web and Web browsers can influence the development of AR browsers.
From Communications of the ACM
Why Not Immortality?
A question of biology, technology, and society.