Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
June 2013
From ACM Opinion
Software Recognition Technology Is Amazing, but Not Amazing Enough
The gadget blogs may work themselves into a frenzy over megapixels and processor speed. But if you want to know what really dazzles the masses, consider a feature that's rarely called out by name: machine recognition of real-world…
From ACM Opinion
Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist
For a spy novelist like me, the Edward J. Snowden story has everything. A man driven by ego and idealism—can anyone ever distinguish the two?—leaves his job and his beautiful girlfriend behind.
From ACM Opinion
Connecting the Dots, Missing the Story
Could Big Data have prevented 9/11? Perhaps—Dick Cheney, for one, seems to think so.
From ACM News
Mathematicians Think Like Machines For Perfect Proofs
From ACM Opinion
Ways to Make Your Online Tracks Harder to Follow
From ACM Careers
The Quantum Company
"I've been doing combative stuff since I was born," says Geordie Rose, leaning back in a chair in his small, windowless office in Burnaby, Canada, as he describes how he has spent most of his life making things difficult for…
From ACM News
The Most Amazing Map You'll See Today (no Matter What Day It Is)
There are many way to celebrate your 70th birthday.
From ACM Opinion
Sorry, It's Not 1984
After leaker Edward Snowden revealed the existence of massive domestic-surveillance programs operated by the NSA, the airwaves were clotted with pundits and politicians summoning a man with whom they appeared to possess only…
From ACM Opinion
.s. Offensive Cyberwar Policy
Today, the United States is conducting offensive cyberwar actions around the world.
From ACM Opinion
What the Digital Brains of the Future Might Be Like
It is the rare entrepreneur who hits it truly big twice. Those who do—such as Ev Williams, Ted Turner, and Elon Musk—tend to stay within the original industry that made them. In recent memory, Steve Jobs sticks out for his success…
From ACM Opinion
Qr Codes Aren't Dead Yet
My favorite mobile device isn't my phone, my iPad, or my car. It's my Canon digital SLR camera.
From ACM Opinion
Phew, Nsa Is Just Collecting Metadata. (you Should Still Worry)
We now know that every day, U.S. phone companies quietly send the government a list of who called whom and when—"telephony metadata"—for every call made on their networks, because of a secret order by the Foreign Intelligence…
From ACM Opinion
Google's Chief Legal Officer: Eight Things We Learned
David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, took part in a live Q&A on Wednesday to answer questions about internet security, privacy, and surveillance, and the NSA and Prism…
From ACM Opinion
The German Prism: Berlin Wants to Spy Too
Just a few days ago, the man whom many Germans now see as one of the greatest villains in the world visited Berlin.
From ACM Opinion
I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden
I don't know Edward Snowden, but I know his kind.
From ACM Opinion
Tech Moves to the Background as Design Becomes Foremost
In the last few decades, the computing industry has passed through several different eras.
From ACM Opinion
The Prism
An extraordinary fuss about eavesdropping started in the spring of 1844, when Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian exile in London, became convinced that the British government was opening his mail.
From ACM Opinion
Will the Nsa Rethink Its Data Collection System?
Weekend Edition Sunday Host Rachel Martin talks to Joel Brenner, former senior counsel at the National Security Agency, about whether the NSA can protect Americans' privacy while also collecting foreign intelligence through its…
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's .s. Law Enforcement and National Security Requests For Last Half of 2012
This afternoon we are publishing additional information about the volume of law enforcement and national security orders served on Microsoft. For the first time, we are permitted to include the total volume of national security…
From ACM Opinion
Connecting the Dots on Prism, Phone Surveillance, and the Nsa's Massive Spy Center
Physically, the NSA has always been well protected by miles of high fences and electrified wire, thousands of cameras, and gun-toting guards.
From ACM Careers
The Secret to a Video-Game Phenomenon
All video-game makers are minor gods.
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Is the Big Data Company That Matters Most
Every now and then, someone asks "Who’ll be the Google of big data?"
From ACM Opinion
It's Time to Rewrite the Internet to Give US Better Privacy, and Security
Almost 15 years ago, as I was just finishing a book about the relationship between the Net (we called it "cyberspace" then) and civil liberties, a few ideas seemed so obvious as to be banal...
From ACM Opinion
Balancing Security and Liberty in the Age of Big Data
A very large Internet company once had the noble impulse to share some of its data with the research community.
From ACM Opinion
Blowing a Whistle
I'm glad I live in a country with people who are vigilant in defending civil liberties.
From ACM Opinion
Fixing the Digital Economy
Two big trends in the world appear to contradict each other.
From ACM Opinion
Let's Rescue Metadata From the Spy Agencies
Once the civil libertarians have had their say, let's hope the really interesting questions start being asked.
From ACM Opinion
What Would Happen If All Satellites Stopped Working?
We may not always realise it, but we depend on space technology orbiting the Earth.
From ACM Opinion
'we Will Be Amazed By the Diversity of Exoplanets'
The Kepler space telescope's search may be at an end, but Didier Queloz, who found the first world around a sunlike star, says more planet hunts are afoot.
From ACM Opinion
Apple's New Mobile Os Is All About Ive
For Apple, there's a lot riding on iOS 7, the newest version of its mobile software and the first refresh overseen by veteran industrial design head Jonathan Ive.