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
The Battle Over Women's Data
In a post-Roe world, bodily autonomy must include control over personal data.
From ACM Opinion
Meta's Message Encryption Was Built to Fail
Chat between a teen and her mom about an alleged abortion helped police build their case.
From ACM Opinion
Virtual Reality Stinks Because It Does Not Smell
For VR to feel truly immersive, it needs to start stinking it up.
From ACM Opinion
Web3 Threatens to Segregate Our Online Lives
Governance tokens may seem like a way to moderate content, but they only give the appearance of democracy.
From ACM Opinion
The Father of Web3 Wants You to Trust Less
Gavin Wood believes decentralized technologies are the only hope of preserving liberal democracy
From ACM Opinion
The Metaverse Is Simply Big Tech, but Bigger
It's a rebrand of Silicon Valley's increasing power and reach, and it's made for companies, not people
From ACM Opinion
Facebook Uses Deceptive Math to Hide Its Hate Speech Problem
The company claims its AI is amazing at removing harmful content, but internal documents suggest the algorithm is ineffective
From ACM Opinion
What Social Media Needs to Learn from Traditional Media
The industry needs to develop professional norms—just as journalism once did
From ACM Opinion
The Privacy Battle that Apple Isn't Fighting
California has begun enforcing a browser-level privacy setting, but you still can't find that option in Safari or iOS
From ACM Opinion
The Danger of Thinking We're All 'Addicted' to Tech
Telling ourselves that devices and platforms "hijack" our brains promotes passivity instead of empowerment.
From ACM Opinion
The FBI Wanted a Backdoor to the iPhone. Tim Cook Said No
In 2016, Tim Cook fought the law—and won.
From ACM Opinion
The Robocall Crisis Will Never Be Totally Fixed
Years into the robocalling frenzy, your phone probably still rings off the hook with "important information about your account," updates from the "Chinese embassy...
From ACM Opinion
China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the S Has No Plan
You may have heard that China has cornered much of the world's supply of strategic metals and minerals crucial for new technology, including lithium, rare earths...
From ACM Opinion
You Know What? Go Ahead and se the Hotel Wi-Fi
As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you'll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this ...
From ACM Opinion
Surveillance Kills Freedom By Killing Experimentation
In my book Data and Goliath, I write about the value of privacy. I talk about how it is essential for political liberty and justice, and for commercial fairness...
From ACM Opinion
How to Hack an Election (Without Touching the Machines)
On Monday morning, just 24 hours before polls opened in the US midterm elections, President Trump sounded an alarm with a Tweet: "Law Enforcement has been strongly...
From ACM Opinion
Brett Kavanaugh and the Information Terrorists Trying to Reshape America
Since the advent of Donald Trump's candidacy, there's been a ton of focus on botnets and sockpuppets—automated and semiautomated social media accounts that use...
From ACM Opinion
Why Silicon Valley Should Fear Europe's Competition Chief
Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition, is surely the most feared person in Silicon Valley.
From ACM Opinion