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Google Fights Back in China
From ACM News

Google Fights Back in China

Two giants on the world stage are battling over the future of information.

Apple's Stash of Credit Card Numbers Is Its Secret Weapon
From ACM News

Apple's Stash of Credit Card Numbers Is Its Secret Weapon

That little iPhone in your pocket is perfectly positioned to become a clone of the credit cards in your wallet or purse.

Is Flame Virus Fallout a Chinese, Russian Plot to Control the Internet?
From ACM Opinion

Is Flame Virus Fallout a Chinese, Russian Plot to Control the Internet?

Has the U.S. government been caught with its virtual hands in the world's cookie jar? And might it lose control of the Internet as a consequence?

From ACM News

Back to Stuxnet: The Missing Link

Two weeks ago, when we announced the discovery of the Flame malware we said that we saw no strong similarity between its code and programming style with that of ...

From ACM Opinion

Drones, Computer Viruses, and Blowback

Another day, another senior al-Qaeda leader killed by a drone strike. (I can't be the first to point out that being al-Qaeda's No. 2 is like being the drummer for...

From ACM Opinion

Cyberweapons: Bold Steps in a Digital Darkness?

In 1945, the United States organized a committee to investigate whether nuclear weapons should become a central military technology, or whether to abjure the weapons...

How Google and Microsoft Taught Search to 'understand' the Web
From ACM Opinion

How Google and Microsoft Taught Search to 'understand' the Web

Despite the massive amounts of computing power dedicated by search engine companies to crawling and indexing trillions of documents on the Internet, search engines...

Is It Possible to Wage a Just Cyberwar?
From ACM Opinion

Is It Possible to Wage a Just Cyberwar?

In the last week or so, cyberwarfare has made front-page news: the United States may have been behind the Stuxnet cyberattack on Iran; Iran may have suffered another...

Why Attack When We Can't Defend?
From ACM Opinion

Why Attack When We Can't Defend?

In December 2010, after we had reverse engineered the Stuxnet virus, I argued that the attackers must have known they would open Pandora's box. Others suggested...

Where Speech Recognition Is Going
From ACM Opinion

Where Speech Recognition Is Going

Until recently, the idea of holding a conversation with a computer seemed pure science fiction. If you asked a computer to "open the pod bay doors"—well, that was...

Why Antivirus Companies Like Mine Failed to Catch Flame and Stuxnet
From ACM Opinion

Why Antivirus Companies Like Mine Failed to Catch Flame and Stuxnet

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from Iran. It was sent by an analyst from the Iranian Computer Emergency Response Team, and it was informing me about...

From ACM Opinion

Augmented Reality Offers a New Layer of Intrigue

If you ever come across a photograph of communist-era East Berlin, or modern Pyongyang in North Korea, the cityscapes look drab and featureless. Billboards, advertising...

Apple's Crystal Prison and the Future of Open Platforms
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Crystal Prison and the Future of Open Platforms

Two weeks ago, Steve Wozniak made a public call for Apple to open its platforms for those who wish to tinker, tweak and innovate with their internals. EFF supports...

What Fearmongers Get Wrong About Cyberwarfare
From ACM Opinion

What Fearmongers Get Wrong About Cyberwarfare

Should we worry about cyberwarfare? Judging by excessively dramatic headlines in the media, very much so. Cyberwarfare, the argument goes, might make wars easier...

Human Evolution Isn't What It ­sed to Be
From ACM Opinion

Human Evolution Isn't What It ­sed to Be

If you write about genetics and evolution, one of the commonest questions you are likely to be asked at public events is whether human evolution has stopped.

From ACM Opinion

What's the Meaning of This: Flame Malware

From all indications, it would appear that attackers are continuing to attack and malware authors are carrying on writing malware.

The Remote Control as Subversive Technology
From ACM Opinion

The Remote Control as Subversive Technology

Television began as a box.

Can Facebook 'monetize Eyeballs?'
From ACM Opinion

Can Facebook 'monetize Eyeballs?'

In the days of the Internet bubble of the mid to late 1990s, companies received millions of dollars of venture capital to offer products that weren't especially...

A Measure of Control
From Communications of the ACM

A Measure of Control

Some limitations on measurements in software.

The Cybersecurity Risk
From Communications of the ACM

The Cybersecurity Risk

Increased attention to cybersecurity has not resulted in improved cybersecurity.
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