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Robot Weapons: What's the Harm?
From ACM Opinion

Robot Weapons: What's the Harm?

Last month over a thousand scientists and tech-world luminaries, including Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak, released an open letter calling for a global...

When Phone Encryption Blocks Justice
From ACM Opinion

When Phone Encryption Blocks Justice

In June, a father of six was shot dead on a Monday afternoon in Evanston, Ill., a suburb 10 miles north of Chicago.

With Google as Alphabet, a Bid to Dream Big Beyond Search
From ACM Opinion

With Google as Alphabet, a Bid to Dream Big Beyond Search

Shortly after its founding, Google posted a document on its site called "Ten things we know to be true," an effort to distill its unusual corporate culture into...

'right to Be Forgotten' Online Is Poised to Spread
From ACM Opinion

'right to Be Forgotten' Online Is Poised to Spread

More than a year ago, in a decision that stunned many American Internet companies, Europe's highest court ruled that search engines were required to grant an unusual...

The Web-Connected Car Is Cool, ­ntil Hackers Cut Your Brakes
From ACM Opinion

The Web-Connected Car Is Cool, ­ntil Hackers Cut Your Brakes

When the history of the connected car is written, this week may go down as a pivotal moment for consumers worried about security.

We Are Data: The Future of Machine Intelligence
From ACM Opinion

We Are Data: The Future of Machine Intelligence

I look at apps like Grindr and Tinder and see how they’ve rewritten sex culture—by creating a sexual landscape filled with vast amounts of incredibly graphic site...

What Apple's Tim Cook Overlooked in His Defense of Privacy
From ACM Opinion

What Apple's Tim Cook Overlooked in His Defense of Privacy

Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief executive, delivered a speech last week that raised some eyebrows in the technology industry.

A Murky Road Ahead For Android, Despite Market Dominance
From ACM Opinion

A Murky Road Ahead For Android, Despite Market Dominance

In 2005, Google bought a tiny mobile software company named Android, and almost nobody in the technology industry saw its potential—not even Eric Schmidt, Google's...

Why Robots Will Always Need ­S
From ACM Opinion

Why Robots Will Always Need ­S

"Human beings are ashamed to have been born instead of made," wrote the philosopher Günther Anders in 1956. Our shame has only deepened as our machines have grown...

Moore's Law Turns 50
From ACM Opinion

Moore's Law Turns 50

On April 19, 1965, just over 50 years ago, Gordon Moore, then the head of research for Fairchild Semiconductor and later one of the co-founders of Intel, was asked...

'rise of the Robots' and 'shadow Work'
From ACM Opinion

'rise of the Robots' and 'shadow Work'

In the late 20th century, while the blue-collar working class gave way to the forces of globalization and automation, the educated elite looked on with benign condescension...

The Illegal Phone-Data Sweeps
From ACM Opinion

The Illegal Phone-Data Sweeps

There is a lot to praise in the powerful ruling issued by a three-judge federal appeals panel in New York on Thursday, which held that the government's vast, continuing...

Preparing For Warfare in Cyberspace
From ACM Opinion

Preparing For Warfare in Cyberspace

The Pentagon’s new 33-page cybersecurity strategy is an important evolution in how America proposes to address a top national security threat. It is intended to...

Case Against Google May Be ­ndercut By Rapid Shifts in Tech
From ACM Opinion

Case Against Google May Be ­ndercut By Rapid Shifts in Tech

The antitrust case against Google filed by European Union regulators on Wednesday will inevitably draw comparisons to the long-running prosecution of Microsoft,...

Don't Let Statistics Ruin Baseball
From ACM Opinion

Don't Let Statistics Ruin Baseball

One of the charms of baseball, which started up again this week, is the exhilarating departure it offers from the noisy bustle of daily life.

Karen, an App That Knows You All Too Well
From ACM Opinion

Karen, an App That Knows You All Too Well

Thinking about a life coach but not ready to commit to the real thing?

Modern Explorers Seek a Place in a Gps World
From ACM Opinion

Modern Explorers Seek a Place in a Gps World

Eric Larsen seemed ill at ease in his tuxedo.

Learning to See Data
From ACM Opinion

Learning to See Data

For the past year or so genetic scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York have been collaborating with a specialist from another universe...

The Math of March Madness
From ACM Opinion

The Math of March Madness

The N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament started Thursday, but for most Americans the real action began days before, as they pored over brackets, competing to make...

If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?
From ACM Opinion

If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?

Let me hazard a guess that you think a real person has written what you're reading. Maybe you're right. Maybe not.
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