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
Lina Khan, a Big Tech Critic, Tries Answering Detractors
In an interview, the FTC chair lays out some of her plans now that she has a Democratic majority at the agency.
From ACM Opinion
Courts Must Stop Social Media Cos. from Co-opting the First Amendment
Federal appeals courts should strike down Florida and Texas laws but reject social media companies' broader arguments
From ACM Opinion
A Thumbs Down for Streaming Privacy
The streaming apps and devices we pay for aren't necessarily careful with our personal information.
From ACM Opinion
The Assault on Our Privacy Is Being Conducted in Private
The rise of social media, Google, and online shopping and banking has made us far more exposed than back in the Internet’s infancy.
From ACM Opinion
Should Alexa Read Our Moods?
Companies should be barred from analyzing what people say and how they sound to recommend products or personalize advertising messages.
From ACM Opinion
Immigration Bans Will Lead to Dumbing Down of the World
Immigrants who came to America for study or employment are more likely to file a patent, publish a scientific paper, start a company, and earn higher wages than...
From ACM Opinion
A Case for Banning Facial Recognition
A Google research scientist explains why she thinks the police shouldn't use facial recognition software.
From ACM Opinion
A Case for Banning Facial Recognition
A Google research scientist explains why she thinks the police shouldn't use facial recognition software.
From ACM Opinion
50 Years Ago, I Helped Invent the Internet. How Did It Go So Wrong?
We did not anticipate that the dark side of the Internet would emerge with such ferocity. Or that we would feel an urgent need to fix it.
From ACM Opinion
Limiting Your Digital Footprints in a Surveillance State
What are your most important tech tools for reporting in Shanghai, especially with a government known for surveillance?
From ACM Opinion
Don't Fight the Robots. Tax Them.
When Bill Gates floated the idea of imposing a tax on robots a couple of years ago, Lawrence Summers, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, called...
From ACM Opinion
How Silicon Valley Puts the 'Con' in Consent
The average person would have to spend 76 working days reading all of the digital privacy policies they agree to in the span of a year. Reading Amazon's terms and...
From ACM Opinion
To Cover China, There's No Substitute for WeChat
How do New York Times journalists use technology in their jobs and in their personal lives? Li Yuan, a technology columnist in Hong Kong, discussed the tech she's...
From ACM Opinion
The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing
Personal technology was so awful this year that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six...
From ACM Opinion
Can the .S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?
Imagine, if you will (and you should), a big American tech executive being detained over unspecified charges while on a trip to Beijing.
From ACM Opinion
The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s
In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson's administration announced a plan to consolidate hundreds of federal databases into one centralized National Data...
From ACM Opinion
The New Radicalization of the Internet
Social media has played a key role in the recent rise of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, including three recent incidents—one in which a man...
From ACM Opinion
How Will We Outsmart A.I. Liars?
During the summer before the 2016 presidential election, John Seymour and Philip Tully, two researchers with ZeroFOX, a security company in Baltimore, unveiled...
From ACM Opinion