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Justice For Alan Turing?
From ACM Opinion

Justice For Alan Turing?

What do we do with the knowledge that people not all that different from ourselves have behaved with astounding stupidity and cruelty, over and over again, in the...

Nsa Can Reportedly Track Phones Even When They're Turned Off
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Can Reportedly Track Phones Even When They're Turned Off

The NSA has a diverse range of surveillance capabilities—from monitoring Google Maps use to sifting through millions of phone call records and spying on Web searches...

The Taming of the Spook
From ACM Opinion

The Taming of the Spook

On March 24, 2009, the National Security Agency’s inspector general issued a 51-page draft report on the President’s Surveillance Program, the warrantless authority...

Connecting the Dots, Missing the Story
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.

I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden
From ACM Opinion

I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden

I don't know Edward Snowden, but I know his kind.

Why Americans Don't Fear the Nsa
From ACM Opinion

Why Americans Don't Fear the Nsa

Cybersnooping was always scheduled to be an important topic during President Obama’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Who's Watching You? Not Just the Nsa.
From ACM Opinion

Who's Watching You? Not Just the Nsa.

While you were tweeting an Instagram of your home-cooked tikka masala last night, we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting data on...

Government Plan to Build 'back Doors' For Online Surveillance Could Create Dangerous Vulnerabilities
From ACM Opinion

Government Plan to Build 'back Doors' For Online Surveillance Could Create Dangerous Vulnerabilities

Recently, the FBI has been attacking the "going dark" problem—that is, its inability to read all electronic communications—from both legal and technological angles...

Google Glass Isn't Lame
From ACM Opinion

Google Glass Isn't Lame

I've spent the last few weeks lowering my expectations for Google Glass.

What Is the Syrian Electronic Army Trying to Accomplish, Anyway?
From ACM Opinion

What Is the Syrian Electronic Army Trying to Accomplish, Anyway?

In June 2011, just a few short months after protests first erupted in Syria, the country's president, Bashar Al-Assad, made a speech in which he thanked a group...

We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now
From ACM Opinion

We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now

On Thursday afternoon, the FBI released photos and video of two persons of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing.

How New Military Technologies Can Help Prevent the Next Boston or Newtown
From ACM Opinion

How New Military Technologies Can Help Prevent the Next Boston or Newtown

This week, it's bombs. In December, it was guns.

Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?
From ACM Opinion

Will Bitcoins Make Me Rich?

Let me begin this column with a lengthy disclosure. One morning last week, I stopped at my bank, filled out a withdrawal slip for $1,027.51, and walked away with...

The Chilling Effects of the Dmca
From ACM Opinion

The Chilling Effects of the Dmca

It was hard to believe, but the student insisted it was true.

Why We'll Never Make an ­npickable Lock
From ACM Opinion

Why We'll Never Make an ­npickable Lock

It would be roughly accurate to say that there have been locks as long as there have been things humans wanted to guard.

Can Your Boss Read Your Email?
From ACM Opinion

Can Your Boss Read Your Email?

Harvard faculty members responded with shock after the Boston Globe revealed that theuniversity’s administration had searched 16 faculty deans’ email accounts to...

Eye-Tracking Smartphones Have Arrived. What About the Privacy Implications?
From ACM Opinion

Eye-Tracking Smartphones Have Arrived. What About the Privacy Implications?

Last March, I wrote in Slate about eye-tracking, which could allow computers and smartphones of the future to collect information not only about what we read, but...

On Today's Battlefield, Is Information More Important Than Firepower?
From ACM Opinion

On Today's Battlefield, Is Information More Important Than Firepower?

Halo, Borderlands, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, Metal Gear Solid—these kinds of games taught a generation to see enemies as red dots on a mini-map...

The Art of Cyberwar
From ACM Opinion

The Art of Cyberwar

The New York Times’ front-page report last week that the Chinese army is hacking into America's most sensitive computer networks from a 12-story building outside...

The Threat of Silence
From ACM Careers

The Threat of Silence

For the past few months, some of the world's leading cryptographers have been keeping a closely guarded secret about a pioneering new invention.
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