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The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing
From ACM Opinion

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing

Personal technology was so awful this year that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six...

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?
From ACM Opinion

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?

Imagine, if you will (and you should), a big American tech executive being detained over unspecified charges while on a trip to Beijing.

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s
From ACM Opinion

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s

In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson's administration announced a plan to consolidate hundreds of federal databases into one centralized National Data...

The New Radicalization of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The New Radicalization of the Internet

Social media has played a key role in the recent rise of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, including three recent incidents—one in which a man...

How Will We Outsmart A.I. Liars?
From ACM Opinion

How Will We Outsmart A.I. Liars?

During the summer before the 2016 presidential election, John Seymour and Philip Tully, two researchers with ZeroFOX, a security company in Baltimore, unveiled...

At China’s Internet Conference, a Darker Side of Tech Emerges
From ACM Opinion

At China’s Internet Conference, a Darker Side of Tech Emerges

Every year at the World Internet Conference, held since 2014 in the photogenic canal town of Wuzhen near Shanghai, companies and government officials have convened ...

How the Blockchain Could Break Big Tech's Hold on A.I.
From ACM Opinion

How the Blockchain Could Break Big Tech's Hold on A.I.

Pairing artificial intelligence and the blockchain might be what you would expect from a scammer looking to make a quick buck in 2018.

No, A.I. Won't Solve the Fake News Problem
From ACM Opinion

No, A.I. Won't Solve the Fake News Problem

In his testimony before Congress this year, Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, addressed concerns about the strategically disseminated misinformation...

A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared
From ACM Opinion

A Future Where Everything Becomes a Computer Is as Creepy as You Feared

More than 40 years ago, Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft with a vision for putting a personal computer on every desk.

Introducing the Internet Bill of Rights
From ACM Opinion

Introducing the Internet Bill of Rights

Should American citizens get a new Bill of Rights for the internet?

When Reporting on Defcon, Avoid Stereotypes and A.T.M.s
From ACM Opinion

When Reporting on Defcon, Avoid Stereotypes and A.T.M.s

As one of The New York Times's three Surfacing residents, I've grown accustomed to entering unfamiliar places.

How Your Brain Tricks You Into Believing Fake News
From ACM Opinion

How Your Brain Tricks You Into Believing Fake News

Sitting in front of a computer not long ago, a tenured history professor faced a challenge that billions of us do every day: deciding whether to believe something...

How to Combat China's Rise in Tech: Federal Spending, Not Tariffs
From ACM Opinion

How to Combat China's Rise in Tech: Federal Spending, Not Tariffs

At the heart of the trade war between the United States and China lies a profound and unsettling question: Who should control the key technologies that will rule...

Looking Through the Eyes of China's Surveillance State
From ACM Opinion

Looking Through the Eyes of China's Surveillance State

They perch on poles and glare from streetlamps. Some hang barely visible in the ceiling of the subway, and others seem to stretch out on braced necks and peer into...

Why Hackers Aren't Afraid of ­s
From ACM Opinion

Why Hackers Aren't Afraid of ­s

Ask finance ministers and central bankers around the world about their worst nightmare and the answer is almost always the same: Sometime soon the North Koreans...

Pentagon Puts Cyberwarriors on the Offensive, Increasing the Risk of Conflict
From ACM Opinion

Pentagon Puts Cyberwarriors on the Offensive, Increasing the Risk of Conflict

The Pentagon has quietly empowered the United States Cyber Command to take a far more aggressive approach to defending the nation against cyberattacks, a shift...

Getting a Flood of G.D.P.R.-Related Privacy Policy ­pdates? Read Them.
From ACM Opinion

Getting a Flood of G.D.P.R.-Related Privacy Policy ­pdates? Read Them.

You have probably noticed a flood of emails and alerts from companies in the past few weeks informing you about changes to their privacy policies.

How Tech Can Turn Doctors Into Clerical Workers
From ACM Opinion

How Tech Can Turn Doctors Into Clerical Workers

There are times when the diagnosis announces itself as the patient walks in, because the body is, among other things, a text.

Europe's Data Protection Law Is a Big, Confusing Mess
From ACM Opinion

Europe's Data Protection Law Is a Big, Confusing Mess

There is a growing realization that our data is under attack.

'2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still the '­ltimate Trip'
From ACM Opinion

'2001: A Space Odyssey' Is Still the '­ltimate Trip'

In the spring of 1964 the filmmaker Stanley Kubrick was very worried. NASA was about to fly the Mariner 4 space probe past Mars.
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