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Sure, Artificial Intelligence May End Our World, But That Is Not the Main Problem
From ACM Opinion

Sure, Artificial Intelligence May End Our World, But That Is Not the Main Problem

The robots will rise, we're told.

Algorithms Are Great and All, But They Can Also Ruin Lives
From ACM Opinion

Algorithms Are Great and All, But They Can Also Ruin Lives

On April 5, 2011, 41-year-old John Gass received a letter from the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The Three Breakthroughs That Have Finally ­nleashed AI on the World
From ACM Opinion

The Three Breakthroughs That Have Finally ­nleashed AI on the World

A few months ago I made the trek to the sylvan campus of the IBM research labs in Yorktown Heights, New York, to catch an early glimpse of the fast-arriving, long...

Robot Servants Are Going to Make Your Life Easy. Then They'll Ruin It
From ACM Opinion

Robot Servants Are Going to Make Your Life Easy. Then They'll Ruin It

Jibo, the "world's first family robot," hit the media hype machine like a bomb.

The Data Centers of Tomorrow Will ­se the Same Tech Our Phones Do
From ACM Opinion

The Data Centers of Tomorrow Will ­se the Same Tech Our Phones Do

The mobile revolution has spread beyond the mini supercomputers in our hands all the way to the data center.

The Weird Reasons Why People Make ­p False Identities on the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The Weird Reasons Why People Make ­p False Identities on the Internet

Sockpuppetry—using false identities for deception—is centuries old, but the advent of the web has made creating sockpuppets, and falling for their tricks, easier...

When Robots Come For Our Jobs, Will We Be Ready to Outsmart Them?
From ACM Opinion

When Robots Come For Our Jobs, Will We Be Ready to Outsmart Them?

Non-human employees are filling positions in all sorts of workplaces, and they are proving themselves to be fast, accurate, and reliable—more so than their human...

The Troubling Truth of Why It's Still So Hard to Share Files Directly
From ACM Opinion

The Troubling Truth of Why It's Still So Hard to Share Files Directly

It's not always easy to spot the compromises in the technology we use, where we've allowed corporate interests to trump public ideals like privacy and press freedom...

What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
From ACM Opinion

What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality

Even Sunday night HBO watchers are worried the Federal Communications Commission will soon put an end to net neutrality.

The Nightmare on Connected Home Street
From ACM Opinion

The Nightmare on Connected Home Street

I wake up at four to some old-timey dubstep spewing from my pillows.

That Computer Actually Got an F on the Turing Test
From ACM Opinion

That Computer Actually Got an F on the Turing Test

Over the weekend, a group of programmers claimed they built a program that passed the famous Turing Test, in which a computer tries to trick judges into believing...

Glenn Greenwald's Pulse-Pounding Tale of Breaking the Snowden Leaks
From ACM Opinion

Glenn Greenwald's Pulse-Pounding Tale of Breaking the Snowden Leaks

In June 2013, Edward Snowden was sitting in his room at the Mira hotel in Hong Kong, watching the world react to the first of his explosive leaks about the NSA's...

It's Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet
From ACM Opinion

It's Time to Encrypt the Entire Internet

The Heartbleed bug crushed our faith in the secure Web, but a world without the encryption software that Heartbleed exploited would be even worse.

A Close Look at the Nsa's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool
From ACM Opinion

A Close Look at the Nsa's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool

We already knew that the NSA has weaponized the Internet, enabling it to "shoot" exploits at anyone it desires.

Judges Poised to Hand ­.s. Spies the Keys to the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Judges Poised to Hand ­.s. Spies the Keys to the Internet

How does the NSA get the private crypto keys that allow it to bulk eavesdrop on some email providers and social networking sites?

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the Nsa's Bigwigs. Here's What Has Them Mad
From ACM Opinion

I Spent Two Hours Talking With the Nsa's Bigwigs. Here's What Has Them Mad

My expectations were low when I asked the National Security Agency to cooperate with my story on the impact of Edward Snowden’s leaks on the tech industry.

Our Government Has Weaponized the Internet. Here's How They Did It
From ACM Opinion

Our Government Has Weaponized the Internet. Here's How They Did It

The internet backbone—the infrastructure of networks upon which internet traffic travels—went from being a passive infrastructure for communication to an active...

How to Design—and Defend Against—the Perfect Security Backdoor
From ACM Opinion

How to Design—and Defend Against—the Perfect Security Backdoor

We already know the NSA wants to eavesdrop on the Internet. 

Want to Evade Nsa Spying? Don't Connect to the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Want to Evade Nsa Spying? Don't Connect to the Internet

Since I started working with Snowden’s documents, I have been using a number of tools to try to stay secure from the NSA.

Google in Jeopardy: What If IBM's Watson Dethroned the King of Search?
From ACM Opinion

Google in Jeopardy: What If IBM's Watson Dethroned the King of Search?

Remember Watson, IBM's Jeopardy! champion?
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