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What If Apple Is Wrong?
From ACM Opinion

What If Apple Is Wrong?

Soon after Devon Godfrey was shot to death in his apartment in Harlem on the evening of April 12, 2010, officers with the New York Police Department thought they...

Lessons from Apple vs. the F.b.i.
From ACM Opinion

Lessons from Apple vs. the F.b.i.

It's welcome news that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has dropped its legal effort to force Apple to help it create a method of accessing data on a lockedSan...

To Beat Go Champion, Google's Program Needed a Human Army
From ACM Opinion

To Beat Go Champion, Google's Program Needed a Human Army

Nearly 20 years ago, after a chess-playing computer called Deep Blue beat the world grandmaster Garry Kasparov, I wrote an article about why humans would long remain...

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?
From ACM Opinion

Is Alphago Really Such a Big Deal?

In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue system defeated the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov.

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills
From ACM Opinion

­se or Lose Our Navigation Skills

In 1984, I was part of a team that was developing a receiver for a satellite-navigation system. After weeks of debugging, the blur of random digits settled on a...

Should Hackers Help the F.b.i.?
From ACM Opinion

Should Hackers Help the F.b.i.?

The United States Justice Department announced this week that it was able to unlock the iPhone used by the gunman in the San Bernardino shooting in December, and...

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support
From ACM Opinion

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support

Andy Grove, the Silicon Valley pioneer who died last week at age 79, was many things: a survivor of the Nazi occupation of Hungary and refugee of Cold War Eastern...

Andy Grove's Warning to Silicon Valley
From ACM Opinion

Andy Grove's Warning to Silicon Valley

The praise this week for Andy Grove, who died on Monday at age 79, has been wrapped up in praise for Silicon Valley, where he was a towering figure in the semiconductor...

Feds Set a Risky Precedent By Indicting 7 Iranian Hackers
From ACM Opinion

Feds Set a Risky Precedent By Indicting 7 Iranian Hackers

This week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) created a potentially dangerous precedent when it indicted seven Iranian hackers involved in attacks on the US financial...

Remembering Silicon Valley's First Giant, Intel's Andrew Grove
From ACM Opinion

Remembering Silicon Valley's First Giant, Intel's Andrew Grove

Silicon Valley is full of logical absolutists, people who will follow a line of argument wherever it goes, no matter what the human repercussions.

Apple Policy on Bugs May Explain Why Hackers Would Help F.b.i.
From ACM Opinion

Apple Policy on Bugs May Explain Why Hackers Would Help F.b.i.

After a third party went to the F.B.I. with claims of being able to unlock an iPhone, many in the security industry said they were not surprised that the thirdApple...

Apple's Carekit Is the Best Argument Yet For Strong Encryption
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Carekit Is the Best Argument Yet For Strong Encryption

On the eve of his company’s court date with the FBI, where it will defend its right to not weaken the security of its own devices, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage...

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy
From ACM Opinion

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy

Allow me to join you, if I may, on your morning commute sometime in the indeterminate future.

The Internet of Things Is a Surveillance Nightmare
From ACM Opinion

The Internet of Things Is a Surveillance Nightmare

In 2014, security guru Bruce Schneier said, "Surveillance is the business model of the Internet.

The Law Is Clear: The Fbi Cannot Make Apple Rewrite its Os
From ACM Opinion

The Law Is Clear: The Fbi Cannot Make Apple Rewrite its Os

Every once in a while, President Obama removes his Law Professor in Chief hat and puts on his I Get Terrifying Briefings Every Day hat.

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?
From ACM Opinion

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?

There are not many occasions when one can give an unqualified thumbs-up to something the government does, but this is one such occasion.

Where Computers Defeat Humans, and Where They Can't
From ACM Opinion

Where Computers Defeat Humans, and Where They Can't

ALPHAGO, the artificial intelligence system built by the Google subsidiary DeepMind, has just defeated the human champion, Lee Se-dol, four games to one in the...

Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever
From ACM Opinion

Explosive Golf Video Game Has the Best Physics Simulation Ever

Before teeing off, I take a few seconds to line up the shot.

Self-Driving Cars Won't Work ­ntil We Change Our Roads—and Attitudes
From ACM Opinion

Self-Driving Cars Won't Work ­ntil We Change Our Roads—and Attitudes

Autonomous vehicles will join human drivers on our roads sooner than most people think.

After Alphago, What's Next For Ai?
From ACM Opinion

After Alphago, What's Next For Ai?

AlphaGo's victories against legendary Go player Lee Se-dol over the last few days mark a major milestone in AI research.
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