Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
July 2016
From ACM Opinion
The Doom of Your Memories Doesn't Really Exist
If you played Doom during its heyday in the 90s, I have some disappointing news: it's not as frightening as you remember.
From ACM Opinion
How Copyright Law Stifles Your Right to Tinker with Tech
The CEO of the gadget-repair site iFixit explains why tech groups are suing the U.S. government over the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
From ACM Opinion
Wikileaks Has Officially Lost the Moral High Ground
What the heck is going on at WikiLeaks?
From ACM Opinion
Dark Patterns Are Designed to Trick You (and They're All Over the Web)
It happens to the best of us. After looking closely at a bank statement or cable bill, suddenly a small, unrecognizable charge appears.
From ACM Opinion
The Science That Fed Frankenstein
In 1816, a teenager began to compose what many view as the first true work of science fiction—and unleashed one of the most subversive attacks on modern science ever written.
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 and abandoned shelving units.
From ACM Opinion
Could Brain Training Prevent Dementia?
It's been a lousy couple of years for researchers who study the effects of computerized brain training.
From ACM Opinion
Americans Are Wary About Body-Enhancement Technologies
Emerging technologies that draw from biomedical technology, nanotechnology, information technology and other fields are developing at a rapid pace and may lead to any number of ways people might be able to "upgrade" themselves…
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. It won a major victory last week, when the U.S. Court of Appeals…
From ACM Opinion
In China, a Robot's Place Is in the Kitchen
Wang Peixin has seen the future, and he's sure it features robots serving up fried dumplings.
From ACM Opinion
A Makeover For Stodgy Federal Agencies
Government needs to do away with out-of-date agencies and open ones with more relevance, like a Department of Tech Support.
From ACM Opinion
Snowden: 'i Never Thought I'd Be Saved' After Nsa Leaks
When Edward Snowden leaked highly classified secrets about government spying, he changed the way the world thinks of cybersecurity.
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 seeds. And they want them fast.
From ACM Opinion
Rise of the Ag-Bots Will Not Sow Seeds of nemployment
Larry Stap's fifth-generation family dairy farm has come a long way since his great grandfather established it in Lynden, Wash., in 1910.
From ACM Opinion
How MIT Gave 'ghostbusters' Its 'geek Cred'
The energetic researchers who grounded the new "Ghostbusters" in hard science—giving it "geek cred"—are using a flurry of media attention to alter public perceptions.
From ACM Opinion
Turkish Coup Plotters' Cyber Fail: Not Turning Off Internet
A failed coup attempt in Turkey, which began during the evening of July 15, was apparently coordinated using the WhatsApp mobile messaging service, according to reports from Turkish media.
From ACM Opinion
This Guy Trains Computers to Find Future Criminals
When historians look back at the turmoil over prejudice and policing in the U.S. over the past few years, they're unlikely to dwell on the case of Eric Loomis.
From ACM Opinion
The Return of Arthur C. Clarke's Fantastic Vision of Jupiter
The Juno space probe is now in orbit around Jupiter, meaning space buffs around the world are eagerly awaiting whatever new data the probe sends back.
From ACM Opinion
Learning to Code as a 30-Year-Old Kid with Apple’s Swift Playgrounds
If you've installed the iOS 10 public beta since it came out last week, you’ll know that compatible iPads come loaded with the "Swift Playgrounds" app that Apple announced at WWDC.
From ACM Opinion
Pokémon Go Will Make You Crave Augmented Reality
It started as an April Fool's joke.
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
Women in Big Data: Does Gender Matter?
Is it such a bad thing that women are underrepresented in tech and big data?
From ACM News
Nasa's Bold Bet on Juno Will Pay Off. Stay Tuned.
Memory-foam mattresses. The breathing devices firefighters wear. And infrared ear thermometers that give near-instant readings.
From ACM Opinion
In Pursuit of Planes That Think For Themselves
Just how smart can an airplane be?
From ACM Opinion
Lessons From the Tesla Crash
A recent fatal crash in Florida involving a Tesla Model S is an example of how a new technology designed to make cars safer could, in some cases, make them more dangerous.
From ACM Opinion
Stuxnet the Movie: The .s. Has Pwned Iran
The new documentary about Stuxnet, 'Zero Days,' says the U.S. had a far larger cyber operation against Iran called Nitro Zeus that has compromised the country's infrastructure and could be used as a weapon in any future war.
From ACM Opinion
Why a Killer Robot Was Likely the Only Option For Dallas Police
When a police robot killed suspect Micah Johnson in Dallas early Friday morning, it was likely an unprecedented event.
From ACM Opinion
Validate Personal Air-Pollution Sensors
The public is increasingly aware of the health and economic costs of air pollution.
From ACM Opinion
Obama's Top Scientist Talks Shrinking Budgets, Donald Trump, and His Biggest Regret
John Holdren is no stranger to the spotlight. Over his long career in science, Holdren—a physicist by training—has worked on controversial issues such as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.
From ACM Opinion
If To Err Is Human, Should Technology Help s Shed Some Humanity?
By all accounts, technology has made us safer.