Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
April 2012
From ACM Opinion
Jeff Bezos Should Send Eric Holder a Christmas Card
I can imagine Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in Seattle Wednesday morning, reading the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit on a gigantic Kindle Fire XL prototype, and grinning ear to ear, savoring every word.
From ACM Opinion
How Will the New Law on Cookies Affect Internet Browsing?
We are being watched.
From ACM Opinion
The Coming Drone Arms Race
Another terrorist overseas dies in a U.S. armed drone strike. This far from uncommon occurrence is an impressive reminder of the U.S. drone program’s remarkable success rate. Washington’s success, however, is proving a double…
From ACM Opinion
Why Did Facebook Pay So Much For a Company with Zero Revenue?
When word came that Instagram had been acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, the tweets came fast, and they were furious.
From ACM Careers
Move Over, Eye Candy. Here Comes the Business Tech Boom
Sometimes an IPO is more than just another IPO, and that's the case with Palo Alto Networks, which has just filed to go public.
From ACM TechNews
Susan Buck Empowers Women in Tech
Susan Buck advises parents to get their daughters involved in technology at an early age. Part of her job at the University of Pennsylvania is teaching students how to think like programmers, which involves building the confidence…
From ACM Opinion
Google Glasses: Will You Want Google Tracking Your Eyes?
The world was stunned by the first real look at Google's Project Glass. In a video released by the search giant, we got a a captivating look at how its glasses could help you get a weather forecast by looking up at the sky, or…
From ACM Opinion
The Education of Google's Larry Page
Larry Page is surrounded.
From ACM Opinion
Hacks of Valor
Over the past year, the U.S. government has begun to think of Anonymous, the online network phenomenon, as a threat to national security.
From ACM Opinion
Pinterest a Company to Watch on Ip Issues, Expert Says
Pinterest's growth is stabilizing after exploding onto the scene.
From ACM Opinion
Darwin's Devices
When I tell people that I work on "evolving robots," their common response is to joke—semi-seriously—about Skynet or some other sci-fi nightmare in which machines develop self-awareness and rebel against their human creators.
From ACM Opinion
We Can Survive Killer Asteroids
The chances that your tombstone will read "Killed by Asteroid" are about the same as they'd be for "Killed in Airplane Crash."
From ACM News
Jeffrey Bigham: sing the Crowd to Help People With Disabilities
Jeffrey Bigham's research uses Web-based applications and crowdsourcing to help people with disabilities in near real-time. Is it any surprise he won a NSF Career Award?
From ACM Opinion
Web Privacy Rules Turn Poachers into Gamekeepers
When you "like" something on Facebook or read an online newspaper, perhaps a dozen or more companies are squirreling away data on your tastes, your habits, whether you're male or female, old or young, gay or straight.
From ACM Opinion
How China Steals Our Secrets
For the last two months, senior government officials and private-sector experts have paraded before Congress and described in alarming terms a silent threat: cyberattacks carried out by foreign governments.
From ACM Opinion
Can Tunisia Become the Silicon Valley of the Arab World?
The country could be a model for how economic innovation can help the changing Middle East succeed.
From Communications of the ACM
Reading CS Classics
Revisiting required reading.
From Communications of the ACM
Is Human Mobility Tracking a Good Idea?
Considering the trade-offs associated with human mobility tracking.
From Communications of the ACM
Improving Gender Composition in Computing
Combining academic and industry representation, the NCWIT Pacesetters program works to increase the participation of girls and women in computing.
From Communications of the ACM
Can Services and Platform Thinking Help the U.S. Postal Service?
How the U.S. Postal Service might improve the efficiency of its delivery platform.
From Communications of the ACM
Information Technology and Gross National Happiness
Connecting digital technologies and happiness.
From Communications of the ACM
The Network Protocol Battle
A tale of hubris and zealotry.