Communications of the ACM
Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Digital innovation is not working in the interest of the whole of society. It is time to radically rethink its purpose without…
From ACM Opinion
Big Tech's 'Innovations' That Aren't
Silicon Valley's giants are no longer producing better products and services. They're exploiting people.
From ACM Opinion
Alexa: Don't Let My 2-Year-Old Talk to You That Way
Parents, your child may have a new secret friend: your smart speaker.
From ACM Opinion
Who Has More of Your Personal Data Than Facebook? Try Google
Recent controversy over Facebook Inc.'s hunger for personal data has surfaced the notion that the online advertising industry could be hazardous to our privacy...
From ACM Opinion
Apple's China Lesson: Think Different, But Not Too Different
Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook will co-chair the Chinese government's showcase global business forum next month, underscoring his increasingly high profile...
From ACM Opinion
Tech That Will Change Your Life in 2017
If you've seen in it in a movie, you might see it in reality in 2017.
From ACM Opinion
America Isn't Ready For a Cyberattack
The recent cyberattack that rendered more than 1,200 websites unreachable was a warning. Experts say a similar, or larger, attack could be launched tomorrow, and...
From ACM Opinion
How to Stop Robocalls … or at Least Fight Back
"This is a final notice from the IRS."
From ACM Opinion
To Beat the Blues, Visits Must Be Real, Not Virtual
Imagine being stranded on a desert island with a roof over your head and sufficient provisions—but no human contact other than what you can get from your smartphone...
From ACM Opinion
Smart Tampon? The Internet of Every Single Thing Must Be Stopped
Let's play a game. Which of the following is a real smartphone-connected product?
From ACM Opinion
What If Facebook Gave S an Opposing-Viewpoints Button?
Imagine if you could flip a switch on Facebook, and turn all the conservative viewpoints that you see liberal, or vice versa. You'd realize your news might look...
From ACM Opinion
How Wooden Toys Teach Kids to Code
Like most parents, I want my young children to be prepared for the future—one in which knowing how to program a computer will be a basic skill, like clicking "Skip...
From ACM Opinion
Telegraph to the Iphone: A Short History of Corporate Defiance
The high-stakes stalemate between Apple and the Justice Department isn’t the first time that Washington and Silicon Valley have come to a showdown over security...
From ACM Opinion
The Language Barrier Is About to Fall
It used to be the case when I traveled abroad that I would take a little pocket dictionary that provided translations for commonly used phrases and words.
From ACM Opinion
Get Ready For Your Digital Model
Entrusting your money to a bank once seemed strange and risky.
From ACM Opinion
Max Schrems, Who Torpedoed Safe Harbor 1, Sees No Safe Harbor 2
He's just helped bring down a longstanding trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact used by thousands of businesses and Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems is already...
From ACM Opinion
What Celebrities Can Teach Companies About Social Media
Let's face it: Corporate America's social presence could use a celebrity makeover.
From ACM Opinion
Apple Carplay Review: Siri's Finally on the Right Road
I take back all—OK most—of the expletives I’ve ever hurled at Siri.
From ACM Opinion
Palmer Luckey: Making Virtual Reality a Reality
"Why shouldn't people be able to teleport wherever they want?" asks Palmer Luckey, the 22-year-old founder of Oculus VR, the virtual-reality company that Facebook...
From ACM Opinion
A Social Network For Talkers
No group needs social network software more than the elderly.
From ACM Opinion