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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 Pros and Cons of a Surveillance Society
From ACM Opinion

The Pros and Cons of a Surveillance Society

Here are three topics much in the news these days: Prism, the surveillance program of the national security agency; the death of Trayvon Martin; and Google Glass...

In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal
From ACM Careers

In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal

Q. How is Big Data being used more in the leadership and management field? 

From ACM Opinion

Snowden, Through the Eyes of a Spy Novelist

For a spy novelist like me, the Edward J. Snowden story has everything. A man driven by ego and idealism—can anyone ever distinguish the two?—leaves his job and...

Ways to Make Your Online Tracks Harder to Follow
From ACM Opinion

Ways to Make Your Online Tracks Harder to Follow


From ACM Opinion

Blowing a Whistle

I'm glad I live in a country with people who are vigilant in defending civil liberties.

Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court
From ACM Opinion

Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court

From an early age we are taught the importance of fighting fairly.

The Banality of 'don’t Be Evil'
From ACM Opinion

The Banality of 'don’t Be Evil'

"The New Digital Age" is a startlingly clear and provocative blueprint for technocratic imperialism, from two of its leading witch doctors, Eric Schmidt and Jared...

Telecom's Big Players Hold Back the Future
From ACM Opinion

Telecom's Big Players Hold Back the Future

If you were going to look for ground zero in the fight against a rapidly consolidating telecom and cable industry, you might end up on the fifth floor of the Benjamin...

At Google Conference, Cameras Even in the Bathroom
From ACM Opinion

At Google Conference, Cameras Even in the Bathroom

The future came crashing down on me this week at the Google I/O developer conference while I stood at a bathroom urinal.

­nraveling Boston Suspects' Online Lives, Link By Link
From ACM Opinion

­nraveling Boston Suspects' Online Lives, Link By Link

It is America's first fully interactive national tragedy of the social media age.

Human Genome, Then and Now
From ACM Opinion

Human Genome, Then and Now

Eight years of work, thousands of researchers around the world, $1 billion spent—and finally it was done.

More Cracks ­ndermine the Citadel of Tv Profits
From ACM Opinion

More Cracks ­ndermine the Citadel of Tv Profits

For the longest time in the media business, the concept of the bundle has been foundational.

From ACM Opinion

Googling You

The settlement last week between a group of state attorneys general and Google over the company’s improper data collection from home wireless networks shows the...

Calling Out the Robocaller
From ACM Opinion

Calling Out the Robocaller

Last month, the Haggler was sitting at home when the phone rang.

After Adding Online Privacy Protections, F.t.c. Chief Resigns
From ACM Opinion

After Adding Online Privacy Protections, F.t.c. Chief Resigns

Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said on Thursday that he would resign effective mid-February.

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal
From ACM Opinion

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal

In January 2011, I was assigned to cover a hearing in Newark, where Daniel Spitler, then 26, stood accused of breaching AT&T's servers and stealing 114,000 email...

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb
From ACM Opinion

Guns, Maps and Data That Disturb

Should data have a conscience?

Ben Horowitz on the Impact of Software Everywhere
From ACM Opinion

Ben Horowitz on the Impact of Software Everywhere

Ben Horowitz may have the skeleton key to the decimation—sorry, transformation—of our economic and political lives.

From ACM Opinion

Sneaky Apps That Track Cellphones

A perversion of smartphone technology called "stalking apps"—precise, secretive trackings of the movements of cellphone users—is increasingly a matter of national...
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