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How to Think About Drones
From ACM Opinion

How to Think About Drones

Consider David. The shepherd lad steps up to face in single combat the Philistine giant Goliath.

The New York Times Was Losing $5 Per Second Thanks to Its Web Site Outage
From ACM News

The New York Times Was Losing $5 Per Second Thanks to Its Web Site Outage

The New York Times is still reeling from a massive Web outage that took down its homepage, its corporate Web site, and everything in between.

The Giant Hurdle For the Internet of Things
From ACM Opinion

The Giant Hurdle For the Internet of Things

Everyone's talking about the Internet of Things, a proposed network of intelligent devices that could one day automate much of the world around us. HVAC and lighting...

Lego Mindstorms Ev3 Means Giant Robots, Powerful Computers
From ACM Opinion

Lego Mindstorms Ev3 Means Giant Robots, Powerful Computers

Gummi Bears. That's what playing with Lego bricks reminds me of—sitting cross-legged on the floor in the back room of my parents' house on Saturday mornings, ahere...

How Wearable Technology Could Transform Business
From ACM Opinion

How Wearable Technology Could Transform Business

Once upon a time seeing your life flash before your eyes was something people did their best to avoid. The arrival of Google Glass seems to have changed that.

From ACM Opinion

We Need a Moratorium on 'Brain-Like' Tech Stories

My "aha" moment arrived two decades ago while I was an undergrad student (and dilettante "futurist," though I didn’t know the word then), sitting in the Great Hall...

Counterfeits Can Kill ­.s. Troops. So Why Isn't Congress and Dod Doing More to Stop It?
From ACM Opinion

Counterfeits Can Kill ­.s. Troops. So Why Isn't Congress and Dod Doing More to Stop It?

Sometime in the not-to-distant future, a submarine will sink. An air defense missile will detonate far from its intended target. These chilling scenarios will...

WikiLeaks' Teenage Benedict Arnold
From ACM Opinion

WikiLeaks' Teenage Benedict Arnold

When he met Julian Assange for the first time, Sigurdur Thordarson admired the WikiLeaks founder's attitude and quickly signed up to the cause.

If We Landed on Europa, What Would We Want to Know?
From ACM Opinion

If We Landed on Europa, What Would We Want to Know?

Most of what scientists know of Jupiter's moon Europa they have gleaned from a dozen or so close flybys from NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1979 and NASA's Galileo...

From ACM Opinion

The End of Integrated Systems

I always travel with a pair of binoculars and, to the puzzlement of my fellow airline passengers, spend part of every flight gazing through them at whatever happens...

Snowden—Facts, Fictions, and  Fears
From ACM Opinion

Snowden—Facts, Fictions, and Fears

"Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector, anywhere ... I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you or your...

The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership
From ACM Opinion

The Public-Private Surveillance Partnership

Imagine the government passed a law requiring all citizens to carry a tracking device. Such a law would immediately be found unconstitutional. Yet we all carry...

The Machine Zone: This Is Where You Go When You Just Can't Stop Looking at Pictures on Facebook
From ACM Opinion

The Machine Zone: This Is Where You Go When You Just Can't Stop Looking at Pictures on Facebook

"People love Facebook. They really love it," Biz Stone wrote earlier this month. "My mother-in-law looks hypnotized when she decides to put in some Facebook time...

They Know Much More Than You Think
From ACM Opinion

They Know Much More Than You Think

In mid-May, Edward Snowden, an American in his late twenties, walked through the onyx entrance of the Mira Hotel on Nathan Road in Hong Kong and checked in.

A Day in the Life of My Iphone
From ACM Opinion

A Day in the Life of My Iphone

Each morning at 7 a.m., I am awakened by the sound of a spaceship next to my bed.

Eff to Court: Forced Decryption ­nconstitutional
From ACM Opinion

Eff to Court: Forced Decryption ­nconstitutional

You shouldn't have to surrender your constitutional rights in order to safeguard your electronic privacy.

Could the Government Get a Search Warrant For Your Thoughts?
From ACM Opinion

Could the Government Get a Search Warrant For Your Thoughts?

We don't have a mind reading machine.

I'm Still Waiting For My Phone to Become My Wallet
From ACM Opinion

I'm Still Waiting For My Phone to Become My Wallet

During the sweltering heat wave earlier this month, it seemed too hot to wear much, carry much or do much of anything at all.

The Mooc Racket
From ACM Opinion

The Mooc Racket

The word mooc sounds a bit like slang from Goodfellas or the affectionate shortening of the already-affectionate name of a former outfielder for the New York Mets...

Technology to Protect Against Mass Surveillance
From ACM Opinion

Technology to Protect Against Mass Surveillance

In the past several weeks, EFF has received many requests for advice about privacy tools that provide technological shields against mass surveillance.
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