Communications of the ACM
Generative AI Degrades Online Communities
How large language models are influencing online communities.
From ACM Opinion
And the Firewalls Came Tumbling Down
There's much to like about "This Machine Kills Secrets," Andy Greenberg's well-reported history of WikiLeaks and the many projects it has inspired, but one unintentionally...
From ACM Opinion
Will Neuroscience Radically Transform the Legal System?
Although academic fields will often enjoy more than Andy Warhol's famous 15 minutes of fame, they too are subject to today's ever-hungry machinery of hype. Like...
From ACM Opinion
Technology Helps Track a Terrorist in 'the Finish'
In late summer 2010, at the end of a morning briefing, one of President Obama's security advisers said, "Mr. President, Leon and the guys at Langley think they...
From ACM Opinion
Patent Could Shackle 3D Printers with Drm
One of the greatest benefits of 3D printing technology—the ability to make replacements or parts for household objects like toys, utensils and gadgets—may be denied...
From ACM Opinion
How I Accidentally Helped Compromise the Secret Keys of High-Security Handcuffs
In the age of freely available modeling software, laser cutters and 3D printers, shapes that must stay secret for security's sake don't stay secret for long. Especially...
From ACM Opinion
Where's the Discussion of Trojan Horses?
The Mykonos Vase, discovered in 1961 in the Cyclades, is one of the earliest accounts of the Trojan Horse, used as a subterfuge by the Greeks to enter the city...
From ACM Opinion
The Limits of Big Data
Stop me if you've heard this one: Three statisticians go rabbit hunting.
From ACM Opinion
The Chinese Steve Jobs Is Probably a Pirate
When discussing innovation, the Chinese like to tout the country’s "Four Great Inventions"—paper, gunpowder, the compass, and woodblock printing—and their enormous...
From ACM Opinion
A Better Approach to Huawei, Zte, and Chinese Cyberspying? Distrust and Verify
In the wake of the 60-page report from Congress’s Select Committee On Intelligence recommending U.S. companies stop buying Chinese-made telecommunications gear...
From ACM Opinion
Hp: Why Bill And Dave Would Back A Break-p Plan
The time has come to break up Hewlett-Packard into parts. That’s the view of UBS analyst Steve Milunovich, who goes so far as to assert that founders Bill Hewlett...
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's 1 Billion sers and What They Say About the Future of Computing
After several months as the Internet's punching bag, Facebook finally has something to brag about: 1 billion active users.
From ACM Opinion
Ietf Approves Hsts as Proposed Standard
One of the things that makes attackers dance around their basement lairs is finding unencrypted Web sessions.
From ACM Opinion
The Extremely Personal Computer: The Digital Future of Mental Health
It's 2018, and you're not feeling your best.
From ACM Opinion
The Supreme Court Needs To Weigh In on Warrantless Cell Phone Tracking By Law Enforcement
Americans should have no reasonable expectation of privacy over the location data stored by their mobile phone.
From ACM Opinion
Do Patent and Copyright Law Restrict Competition and Creativity Excessively?
To evaluate optimal patent protection for an invention, one has to consider both the cost of inventing and the cost of copying; the higher the ratio of the former...
From ACM News
Apple-Google Maps Talks Crashed Over Voice-Guided Directions
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says Apple should have continued to use Google’s mapping application in iOS 6 instead of swapping it out for its poorly received home...
From ACM Opinion
Apple Needs to Find Its Exit Strategy From China
"IPhone5 Launch Causes Riots" You'd expect to see headlines like this when consumers beat down doors and trample each other, yet these riots were in China, among...
From ACM Opinion
The Internet? We Built That
Who created the Internet and why should we care? These questions, so often raised during the Bush-Gore election in 2000, have found their way back into the political...
From ACM Opinion
Why Everyone (not Just Geeks) Should Care About Big Data
Hugo Campos has a cardiac defibrillator implanted in his body. It sends data about his heart to his doctors and back to the manufacturer, but it takes days to get...
From ACM Opinion