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 Future of Encryption Is in These Politicians' Hands
Encryption is complicated. Legislating for it, even more so.
From ACM Opinion
An Ipad Misplaced at the Airport Takes Its Own Vacation
Last month, Shelby Bonnie's iPad vanished from his carry-on bag somewhere at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after a red-eye flight from San Francisco...
From ACM Opinion
Left Behind in the Mobile Revolution, Intel Struggles to Innovate
Intel was once known for its success in branding personal computers with microprocessors, a technology that fueled the digital revolution. But the Silicon Valley...
From ACM Opinion
You Can't Escape Data Surveillance In America
In America, surveillance has always played an outsized role in the relationship between creditors and debtors.
From ACM Opinion
Is Predictive Policing the Law-Enforcement Tactic of the Future?
As big data transforms industries ranging from retailing to health care, it’s also becoming a more important tool for police departments, which are turning to data...
From ACM Opinion
This Top Scientist Offers a Solution For the Havoc Driverless Cars May Wreck on Workers
Proponents of autonomous vehicles are in a sticky situation.
From ACM Opinion
Can Starshot Work?
A couple of weeks ago the world heard about the most seriously funded (and perhaps the most serious) effort yet for starting us on the pathway to interstellar travel...
From ACM Opinion
The Secret Signals That Rule Transport Networks
It is early morning on Brighton beach, and we are sitting on a slope of pebbles, looking out to sea.
From ACM Opinion
Will Smell Ever Come to Smartphones?
Two years ago, at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, I witnessed David Edwards receive what he claimed was the world's first transatlantic ...
From ACM Opinion
One Easy Way to Make Wikipedia Better
The Pacific Northwest tree octopus existed years before Wikipedia was founded. I’m using "existed" loosely here, of course, because there's no such thing as a Pacific...
From Communications of the ACM
Do Patent Commons and Standards-Setting Organizations Help Navigate Patent Thickets?
Examining the institutions underlying the patent system for information and communication technologies.
From ACM Opinion
Europe's Web Privacy Rules: Bad For Google, Bad For Everyone
It's been a rough few months for Google in Europe.
From ACM Opinion
New Encryption Technology Is Aiding Terrorists, Intelligence Director Says
The Edward Snowden leaks have accelerated the sophistication of encryption technologies by "about seven years," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper...
From ACM Opinion
Scott Aaronson Answers Every Ridiculously Big Question I Throw at Him
Scott Aaronson has one of the highest intelligence/pretension ratios I’ve ever encountered.
From ACM Opinion
What Cyberwar Against Isis Should Look Like
Pentagon officials have publicly said, in recent weeks, that they're hitting ISIS not only with bullets and bombs but also with cyberoffensive operations.
From ACM Opinion
Who's Responsible When a Self-Driving Car Crashes?
Valentine's Day was a bummer in Mountain View, Calif. For the first time, one of Google's self-driving cars, a modified Lexus SUV, caused a crash.
From ACM Opinion
A Year with the Apple Watch: What Works, What Doesn't, and What Lies Ahead?
About a year ago, Apple announced and released its first Apple Watch. The long-rumored product was Apple’s first all-new product category since the iPad and its...
From ACM Opinion
700 Million People Just Got Encryption That Congress Can't Touch
Last month, WhatsApp, the hugely popular messaging service that Facebook owns, made end-to-end encryption the default for its 1 billion users. On Tuesday, Viber...
From ACM Opinion