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subjectComputers And Society
authorThe New York Times
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A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal
From ACM Opinion

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal

In January 2011, I was assigned to cover a hearing in Newark, where Daniel Spitler, then 26, stood accused of breaching AT&T's servers and stealing 114,000 email...

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb
From ACM Opinion

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb

Should data have a conscience?

From ACM Opinion

Sneaky Apps That Track Cellphones

A perversion of smartphone technology called "stalking apps"—precise, secretive trackings of the movements of cellphone users—is increasingly a matter of national...

Opening the Doors to the Life of Pi
From ACM Opinion

Opening the Doors to the Life of Pi

For those of us who have been intoxicated by the powers and possibilities of mathematics, the mystery isn't why that fascination developed but why it isn't universal...

From ACM Opinion

I Am Not Big Brother

I've grown accustomed to reading inaccurate accounts of my day job. I'm in political data.

From ACM Opinion

At Dawn We Sleep

If you read the newspapers on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, you would have been led to believe that Japan was poised to attack—but in Southeast Asia, not Pearl Harbor...

From ACM Opinion

Science Is the Key to Growth

Mitt Romney said in all three presidential debates that we need to expand the economy. But he left out a critical ingredient: investments in science and technology...

Is Failure to Predict a Crime?
From ACM Opinion

Is Failure to Predict a Crime?

I learned with disbelief last Monday about the decision of an Italian judge to convict seven scientific experts of manslaughter and to sentence them to six years...

And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down
From ACM Opinion

And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down

There's much to like about "This Machine Kills Secrets," Andy Greenberg's well-reported history of WikiLeaks and the many projects it has inspired, but one unintentionally...

Where's the Discussion of Trojan Horses?
From ACM Opinion

Where's the Discussion of Trojan Horses?

The Mykonos Vase, discovered in 1961 in the Cyclades, is one of the earliest accounts of the Trojan Horse, used as a subterfuge by the Greeks to enter the city...

The Internet? We Built That
From ACM Opinion

The Internet? We Built That

Who created the Internet and why should we care? These questions, so often raised during the Bush-Gore election in 2000, have found their way back into the political...

From ACM Opinion

When Gps Tracking Violates Privacy Rights

For the right to personal privacy to survive in America in this digital age, courts must be meticulous in applying longstanding privacy protections to new technology...

Breaking ­p the Echo
From ACM Opinion

Breaking ­p the Echo

It is well known that when like-minded people get together, they tend to end up thinking a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk...

From ACM Opinion

The Iphone Stimulus

Are you, or is someone you know, a gadget freak? If so, you doubtless know that Wednesday was iPhone 5 day, the day Apple unveiled its latest way for people to...

From ACM Opinion

A New Kind of Warfare

Cybersecurity efforts in the United States have largely centered on defending computer networks against attacks by hackers, criminals, and foreign governments,...

From ACM Opinion

Apple Case Muddies the Future of Innovations

Apple's victory on Friday in a patent lawsuit against Samsung could, if upheld, give its rivals a kick in the pants to create more original products.

Giving In to the Surveillance State
From ACM Opinion

Giving In to the Surveillance State

In March 2002, John M. Poindexter, a former national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan, sat down with Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the National...

Exploring the Planets Enriches ­S at Home
From ACM Opinion

Exploring the Planets Enriches ­S at Home

NASA's newest marvel, a one-ton rover named Curiosity, has been set down with all the delicacy of a carton of eggs on the surface of Mars.

Trust: Ill-Advised in a Digital Age
From ACM Opinion

Trust: Ill-Advised in a Digital Age

Bruce Schneieer ordered a Coke, no ice, at the Rio casino on a Saturday afternoon. I ordered Diet Coke, also no ice, and handed the bartender an American Express...

Is Algebra Necessary?
From ACM Opinion

Is Algebra Necessary?

A typical American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra.
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