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We Want Privacy, but Can't Stop Sharing
From ACM Opinion

We Want Privacy, but Can't Stop Sharing

Imagine a world suddenly devoid of doors.

The Magic in Apple's Devices? The Heart
From ACM Opinion

The Magic in Apple's Devices? The Heart

During the last seismic Apple announcement, in 2010, I was at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad, a device he...

Police Cameras Can Shed Light, but Raise Privacy Concerns
From ACM Opinion

Police Cameras Can Shed Light, but Raise Privacy Concerns

Michael Brown, the unarmed teenager who was shot during an encounter with police in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 9, was recorded by a convenience store surveillance camera...

The Next Big Thing in Hardware: Smart Garbage
From ACM Opinion

The Next Big Thing in Hardware: Smart Garbage

There's a box on a shelf in my closet stuffed with smart smoke detectors, old smartphones, chargers, battery cases, fitness trackers, a Kindle that I sat on and...

Should Facebook Manipulate ­sers?
From ACM Opinion

Should Facebook Manipulate ­sers?

Should we worry that technology companies can secretly influence our emotions?

The Tech-Savvy Supreme Court
From ACM Opinion

The Tech-Savvy Supreme Court

The two major technology-related decisions handed down by the Supreme Court this week have been widely greeted by people in the tech industry as one win and one...

Ordering Google to Forget
From ACM Opinion

Ordering Google to Forget

In a ruling that could undermine press freedoms and free speech, the highest court of the European Union said on Tuesday that Google must comply with requests from...

The Peril of Knowledge Everywhere
From ACM Opinion

The Peril of Knowledge Everywhere

Thanks to advances in technology, we may soon revisit a question raised four centuries ago: Are there things we should try not to know?

The Cloud Industry Needs Aereo to Win. But Consumers Need Something Better.
From ACM Opinion

The Cloud Industry Needs Aereo to Win. But Consumers Need Something Better.

The best way to think about Aereo, the company at the center of this week's Supreme Court battle over the future of computing, is as an example of legal performance...

From ACM Opinion

Abstract Ideas Don't Deserve Patents

The Constitution gives Congress the power to grant inventors a temporary monopoly over their creations to "promote the progress of science and useful arts."

Flight 370 and the Terror of Being Off the Grid
From ACM Opinion

Flight 370 and the Terror of Being Off the Grid

How can a commercial airliner go missing?

The Future of Internet Freedom
From ACM Opinion

The Future of Internet Freedom

Over the next decade, approximately five billion people will become connected to the Internet.

From ACM Opinion

Waiting For the Black Box

Days after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 shortly after midnight on Saturday, investigators considering a range of possible causes—mechanical...

How I Quit Google
From ACM Opinion

How I Quit Google

I think it was the search for "pink glitter tiny toms" that finally prompted me to quit Google.

How to Get a Job at Google
From ACM Opinion

How to Get a Job at Google

Last June, in an interview with Adam Bryant of The Times, Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google—i.e., the guy in charge of hiring...

Social Media, a Trove of Clues and Confessions
From ACM Opinion

Social Media, a Trove of Clues and Confessions

It seems as if every week there's a news story about someone committing a crime and confessing to it on Facebook, bragging about it on Twitter or sharing photos...

Bitcoin and the Fictions of Money
From ACM Opinion

Bitcoin and the Fictions of Money

How should we think about a currency like Bitcoin?

Why Bitcoin Matters
From ACM Opinion

Why Bitcoin Matters

A mysterious new technology emerges, seemingly out of nowhere, but actually the result of two decades of intense research and development by nearly anonymous researchers...

When Doctors 'google' Their Patients
From ACM Opinion

When Doctors 'google' Their Patients

I remember when I first looked up a patient on Google.

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower
From ACM Opinion

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency's reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United...
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