acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

Recent Opinion


bg-corner

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.

Y'all Have a Texas Accent? Siri (and the World) Might Be Slowly Killing It
From ACM Opinion

Y'all Have a Texas Accent? Siri (and the World) Might Be Slowly Killing It

It was a simple enough question, at least in this part of the world.

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

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.

Artificial Intelligence: 'homo Sapiens Will Be Split Into a Handful of Gods and the Rest of ­s'
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence: 'homo Sapiens Will Be Split Into a Handful of Gods and the Rest of ­s'

If you wanted relief from stories about tyre factories and steel plants closing, you could try relaxing with a new 300-page report from Bank of America Merrill which...

16 Trends That Will Define the Future of Video Games
From ACM Opinion

16 Trends That Will Define the Future of Video Games

Hundreds of game developers, publishers and analysts recently descended on Brighton for the annual Develop conference.

Ad Tech Is Killing the Online Experience
From ACM Opinion

Ad Tech Is Killing the Online Experience

There's something so wonderfully easy about reading this column in a physical newspaper.

Artificial Intelligence Will Not Turn Into a Frankenstein's Monster
From ACM Opinion

Artificial Intelligence Will Not Turn Into a Frankenstein's Monster

The singularity—or, to give it its proper title, the technological singularity. It's an idea that has taken on a life of its own; more of a life, I suspect, than...

Stop Complaining About the Facebook Study. It's a Golden Age For Research
From ACM Opinion

Stop Complaining About the Facebook Study. It's a Golden Age For Research

Several years ago, my student and I studied anonymous email server data from 40,000 students, faculty and staff at a large university.

Secrets, Lies and Snowden's Email: Why I Was Forced to Shut Down Lavabit
From ACM Opinion

Secrets, Lies and Snowden's Email: Why I Was Forced to Shut Down Lavabit

My legal saga started last summer with a knock at the door, behind which stood two federal agents ready to to serve me with a court order requiring the installation...

Eugene Kaspersky: Major Cyberterrorist Attack Is Only Matter of Time
From ACM Opinion

Eugene Kaspersky: Major Cyberterrorist Attack Is Only Matter of Time

A major, global cyberterrorist attack has long been the stuff of fiction, the threat that a malevolent hacker could bring down businesses, sabotage power plants...

Heartbleed: Developer Who Introduced the Error Regrets 'oversight'
From ACM Opinion

Heartbleed: Developer Who Introduced the Error Regrets 'oversight'

The developer who introduced the "Heartbleed" vulnerability to the open-source code used by thousands of websites has told the Guardian it was an "oversight"—but...

Are the Robots About to Rise?
From ACM Opinion

Are the Robots About to Rise?

It's hard to know where to start with Ray Kurzweil.

Tim Berners-Lee: Encryption Cracking By Spy Agencies 'appalling and Foolish'
From ACM Opinion

Tim Berners-Lee: Encryption Cracking By Spy Agencies 'appalling and Foolish'

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the computer scientist who created the World Wide Web, has called for a "full and frank public debate" over Internet surveillance by the National...

Grand Theft Auto 5: Inside the Creative Process with Dan Houser
From ACM Opinion

Grand Theft Auto 5: Inside the Creative Process with Dan Houser

We're four days away now. After a year of pre-publicity and a five-year wait since GTA IV, the latest instalment in Rockstar's gangland opus is almost upon us.

Nsa Surveillance: A Guide to Staying Secure
From ACM Opinion

Nsa Surveillance: A Guide to Staying Secure

Now that we have enough details about how the NSA eavesdrops on the Internet, including today's disclosures of the NSA's deliberate weakening of cryptographic systems...

The Problem with Algorithms: Magnifying Misbehaviour
From ACM Opinion

The Problem with Algorithms: Magnifying Misbehaviour

By the time you read these words, much of what has appeared on the screen of whatever device you are using has been dictated by a series of conditional instructions...

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales Explains Its Mission to Be Mainstream
From ACM Opinion

Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales Explains Its Mission to Be Mainstream

Wikipedia is expanding its major new "open data" initiative, expanding tools that allow developers to use its content on other websites and simplifying its editing...

Bradley Manning 'aiding the Enemy' Charge Is a Threat to Journalism
From ACM Opinion

Bradley Manning 'aiding the Enemy' Charge Is a Threat to Journalism

Thursday, Colonel Denise Lind, the judge in the Bradley Manning court martial, refused to dismiss the "aiding the enemy" charge.

Google's Chief Legal Officer: Eight Things We Learned
From ACM Opinion

Google's Chief Legal Officer: Eight Things We Learned

David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer, took part in a live Q&A on Wednesday to answer questions about...

Patent Trolls Are a Serious Threat to ­.s. Innovation
From ACM Opinion

Patent Trolls Are a Serious Threat to ­.s. Innovation

At last, some good news about America's dysfunctional patent system: the White House has noticed there's a problem.
Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account