Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From Communications of the ACM
An Interview with William Hugh Murray
A discussion of the rapidly evolving realm of practical cyber security.
From Communications of the ACM
Potential 'Dark Sides' of Leisure Technology Use in Youth
Time for balanced reflections on technology.
From Communications of the ACM
Questioning a New Intellectual Property Right for Press Publishers
Considering the implications of the "link tax" provision of the proposed EU Directive for the Digital Single Market for traditional press publishers.
From ACM Opinion
Electronic Contracts and the Illusion of Consent
Q: What do you do when you see a little button on a webpage or app screen that says I agree?
From ACM Opinion
Trump's Plan to Keep America First in AI
The US leads the world in artificial intelligence technology. Decades of federal research funding, industrial and academic research, and streams of foreign talent...
From ACM Opinion
The New Censors Won't Delete Your Words; They'll Drown Them Out
Winston Smith works at the Ministry of Truth. Each day, the hero of George Orwell's "1984" "corrects" old newspapers to make sure that the information is in still...
From ACM Opinion
There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology
In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without...
From ACM Opinion
How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent
The average person would have to spend 76 working days reading all of the digital privacy policies they agree to in the span of a year. Reading Amazon's terms and...
From ACM Opinion
People Don't Trust Blockchain Systems. Is Regulation a Way to Help?
Blockchain technology isn't as widely used as it could be, largely because blockchain users don't trust each other, as research shows.
From Communications of the ACM
Do We Really Need Computational Thinking?
Considering the expression "computational thinking" as an entry point to understand why the fundamental contribution of computing to science is the shift from solving...
From Communications of the ACM
How Computer Science at CMU Is Attracting and Retaining Women
Carnegie Mellon University's successful efforts enrolling, sustaining, and graduating women in computer science challenge the belief in a gender divide in CS education...
From Communications of the ACM
2018: A Big Year for Privacy
Retracing the pivotal privacy and security-related events and ensuing issues from the past year.
From ACM Opinion
The Roger Stone Indictment Shows a Conspiratorial Comedy of Opsec Errors
Former Trump advisor and self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" Roger Stone—the man with a Richard Nixon tattoo on his back and a penchant for playing the evil genius—was...
From ACM Opinion
Five Emerging Cyber-Threats to Worry About in 2019
Last year was full of cybersecurity disasters, from the revelation of security flaws in billions of microchips to massive data breaches and attacks using malicious...
From ACM Opinion
The Quiet Threat Inside 'Internet of Things' Devices
As Americans increasingly buy and install smart devices in their homes, all those cheap interconnected devices create new security problems for individuals and...
From ACM Opinion
When Chinese Hackers Declared War on the Rest of s
Late one Wednesday in March 2015, an alarm sounded in the offices of GitHub, a San Francisco-based software firm. The company's offices exemplified the kind of...
From ACM News
Countering Russian Disinformation the Baltic Nations' Way
As the new Congress begins, it will soon discuss the comprehensive reports to the U.S. Senate on the disinformation campaign of half-truths, outright fabrications...
From ACM Opinion
Never Mind Killer Robots; Here Are Six Real AI Dangers to Watch Out for in 2019
Once it was fashionable to fret about the prospect of super-intelligent machines taking over the world. The past year showed that AI may cause all sorts of hazards...
From ACM Opinion
A Reason to Despair About the Digital Future: Deepfakes
A despairing prediction for the digital future came from an unlikely source recently. Speaking of "deepfakes," or media manipulated through artificial intelligence...
From ACM Opinion