Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
What the Digital Brains of the Future Might Be Like
It is the rare entrepreneur who hits it truly big twice. Those who do—such as Ev Williams, Ted Turner, and Elon Musk—tend to stay within the original industry that...
From ACM Opinion
Qr Codes Aren't Dead Yet
My favorite mobile device isn't my phone, my iPad, or my car. It's my Canon digital SLR camera.
From ACM Opinion
Phew, Nsa Is Just Collecting Metadata. (you Should Still Worry)
We now know that every day, U.S. phone companies quietly send the government a list of who called whom and when—"telephony metadata"—for every call made on their...
From ACM Opinion
The German Prism: Berlin Wants to Spy Too
Just a few days ago, the man whom many Germans now see as one of the greatest villains in the world visited Berlin.
From ACM Opinion
I Would Have Hired Edward Snowden
I don't know Edward Snowden, but I know his kind.
From ACM Opinion
The Prism
An extraordinary fuss about eavesdropping started in the spring of 1844, when Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian exile in London, became convinced that the British government...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's .s. Law Enforcement and National Security Requests For Last Half of 2012
This afternoon we are publishing additional information about the volume of law enforcement and national security orders served on Microsoft. For the first time...
From ACM Opinion
Connecting the Dots on Prism, Phone Surveillance, and the Nsa's Massive Spy Center
Physically, the NSA has always been well protected by miles of high fences and electrified wire, thousands of cameras, and gun-toting guards.
From ACM Opinion
Why Google Is the Big Data Company That Matters Most
Every now and then, someone asks "Who’ll be the Google of big data?"
From ACM Opinion
It's Time to Rewrite the Internet to Give US Better Privacy, and Security
Almost 15 years ago, as I was just finishing a book about the relationship between the Net (we called it "cyberspace" then) and civil liberties, a few ideas seemed...
From ACM Opinion
Balancing Security and Liberty in the Age of Big Data
A very large Internet company once had the noble impulse to share some of its data with the research community.
From ACM Opinion
Blowing a Whistle
I'm glad I live in a country with people who are vigilant in defending civil liberties.
From ACM Opinion
Let's Rescue Metadata From the Spy Agencies
Once the civil libertarians have had their say, let's hope the really interesting questions start being asked.
From ACM Opinion
What Would Happen If All Satellites Stopped Working?
We may not always realise it, but we depend on space technology orbiting the Earth.
From ACM Opinion
Why Americans Don't Fear the Nsa
Cybersnooping was always scheduled to be an important topic during President Obama’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
From ACM Opinion
How to Protect Yourself from the Online Axis of Evil
North Korea and Iran are viewed as threats to the world because of their potential to field weapons of mass destruction, but they are far more likely to focus their...
From ACM Opinion
Who's Watching You? Not Just the Nsa.
While you were tweeting an Instagram of your home-cooked tikka masala last night, we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting data on...
From ACM Opinion
Our Guts May Hate Mars
Eighty thousand people recently applied for a trip to Mars, an excursion that will allegedly be funded by selling reality-TV show rights for the voyage.
From ACM Opinion
Mit's Magic Bag Of Sand
The camera pushes in. And there, near the meridian line, you see a faint scattering of red lights. Something is in the tar. And it's glowing.
From ACM Opinion