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
It's Been 20 Years Since This Man Declared Cyberspace Independence
When digital dystopians and critics of Internet libertarians need a rhetorical dart board, they often pull out a document written by John Perry Barlow, co-founder...
From ACM Opinion
Snowden's Chronicler Reveals Her Own Life nder Surveillance
Laura Poitras has a talent for disappearing. In her early documentaries like My Country, My Country and The Oath, her camera seems to float invisibly in rooms where...
From ACM Opinion
AI Is Transforming Google Search. The Rest of the Web Is Next
Yesterday, the 46-year-old Google veteran who oversees its search engine, Amit Singhal, announced his retirement. And in short order, Google revealed that Singhal's...
From ACM Opinion
Proposed State Bans on Phone Encryption Make Zero Sense
American politics has long accepted the strange notion that just a pair of states—namely Iowa and New Hampshire—get an outsize vote in choosing America’s next president...
From ACM Opinion
To Make AI More Human, Teach It to Chitchat
Tom was discussing the film star Tang Wei with a chatbot named XiaoIce, and the bot was excited: "A goddess! She stole my heart … and then went off and married!"...
From ACM Opinion
Forget Ai—the Human-Friendly Future of Computing Is Already Here
For many of us, the concept of artificial intelligence conjures up visions of a machine-dominated world, where humans are servants to the devices they created.
From ACM Opinion
Security's Biggest Winners and Losers in 2015
This year, lawmakers surprised us by taking initial steps—albeit, baby ones—to rein in some of the NSA's mass spying and provide better oversight of the intelligence...
From ACM Opinion
Elon Musk's Billion-Dollar AI Plan Is About Far More Than Saving the World
Elon Musk and Sam Altman worry that artificial intelligence will take over the world. So, the two entrepreneurs are creating a billion-dollar not-for-profit company...
From ACM Opinion
Huge MIT Media Lab Inventions That Transformed Our World
For the last 30 years, the MIT Lab has been a breeding ground for technological progress that’s pushed the world into the future.
From ACM Opinion
Crispr Is Getting Better. Now It's Time to Ask the Hard Ethical Questions
When Chinese scientists announced in April they had edited human embryos using a new genetic tool called Crispr, the headlines blared "designer babies," and the...
From ACM Opinion
How to Baffle Web Trackers By Obfuscating Your Movements Online
Online ad networks and search engines love it when you surf around.
From ACM Opinion
Hackers Make Cars Safer. Don't Ban Them From Tinkering
Virtually every new car sold today has some sort of network connection.
From ACM Opinion
Guys, Lots of Signals from Space Seem Like Aliens
Last week, astronomers—amateur and pro—got excited about some strange results from the Kepler Space Telescope, the NASA observatory tasked with searching for Earth...
From ACM Opinion
Tech Companies Can Blame Snowden For Data Privacy Decision
A ruling the Europe Union’s highest court yesterday may create enormous headaches for US tech companies like Google and Facebook.
From ACM Opinion
Apple's 3d Touch Is the Start of a New Interface Revolution
If you want to understand the potential of 3D Touch, the new of method of tapping and pressing on the screens of the latest iPhones, forget about the marketing...
From ACM Opinion
How to Get to Mars ... And Maybe Even Live There
There's something about the Red Planet—so close yet so far, inhospitable yet perhaps not totally uninhabitable—that keeps us dreaming about getting there one day...
From ACM Opinion
We're on the Brink of a Revolution in Crazy-Smart Digital Assistants
Here's a quick story you’ve probably heard before, followed by one you probably haven't.
From ACM Opinion
You Can't nderstand Security Without These Classic Works
There are seminal books, movies, articles, and more that you've been meaning to get to but just haven't made the time for.
From ACM Opinion