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Why Safe Harbor 2.0 Will Lose Again
From ACM Opinion

Why Safe Harbor 2.0 Will Lose Again

Over the weekend, negotiators from the European Union's executive body, and the US Federal Trade Commission worked frantically to thrash out a deal to allow transatlantic...

When Will We Be Able to Vote Online?
From ACM Opinion

When Will We Be Able to Vote Online?

Sooner or later everything seems to go online. Newspapers. TV. Radio. Shopping. Banking. Dating.

The Step Needed to Make Virtual Reality More Real
From ACM Opinion

The Step Needed to Make Virtual Reality More Real

It's one thing to play the arcade game Whac-A-Mole by swinging around an oversized mallet; it's far easier to whack those moles virtually, controlling the mallet...

Proposed State Bans on Phone Encryption Make Zero Sense
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...

There May Be a Way to Allow Mass Surveillance and Preserve Our Privacy at the Same Time
From ACM Opinion

There May Be a Way to Allow Mass Surveillance and Preserve Our Privacy at the Same Time

If we've learned anything over the past few years, it's that governments will make all sorts of excuses to justify the surveillance of its citizens.

The Language Barrier Is About to Fall
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.

Will Machines Eliminate ­s?
From ACM Opinion

Will Machines Eliminate ­s?

Yoshua Bengio leads one of the world's preëminent research groups developing a powerful AI technique known as deep learning.

Digital Intuition
From ACM Opinion

Digital Intuition

Napoleon had it and so did Charles Darwin. Tennis champion Roger Federer has it in spades. The dictionary defines intuition as knowledge obtained without conscious...

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?
From ACM News

Is Blockchain the Most Important It Invention of Our Age?

There are not many occasions when one can give an unqualified thumbs-up to something the government does, but this is one such occasion.

Go Players React to Computer Defeat
From ACM Opinion

Go Players React to Computer Defeat

For decades, the ancient game of Go has stood out as the one board game that computers couldn't crack.

If Killer Robots Arrive, the Terminator Will Be the Least of Our Problems
From ACM Opinion

If Killer Robots Arrive, the Terminator Will Be the Least of Our Problems

Autonomous weapons experts sounded the alarm last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, cautioning that unless governments act to limit these...

A New and Stunning Way to See the Whole Earth
From ACM Opinion

A New and Stunning Way to See the Whole Earth

The Japanese weather satellite Himawari-8 sits 22,000 miles from Earth in orbit. On August 5, 2015, it peered down at the half of Earth that it can see, a hemisphere...

Why We'e So Vulnerable
From ACM Opinion

Why We'e So Vulnerable

In an age of continuing electronic breaches and rising geopolitical tensions over cyber-espionage, the White House is working on a national cybersecurity strategy...

To Make AI More Human, Teach It to Chitchat
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!"...

Power Wars: How Obama Justified, Expanded Bush-Era Surveillance
From ACM Opinion

Power Wars: How Obama Justified, Expanded Bush-Era Surveillance

Over the winter holidays, I took some well-needed time offline, away from e-mail and social media.

Psa: Do Not ­se the New Prime Number For Rsa Encryption
From ACM Opinion

Psa: Do Not ­se the New Prime Number For Rsa Encryption

You may have heard that there’s a new largest prime number in town.

Revealing the API Ecosystem and Enterprise Strategy via Visual Analytics
From Communications of the ACM

Revealing the API Ecosystem and Enterprise Strategy via Visual Analytics

Seeking better understanding of digital transformation.

The Case For Looking to the States, Not the Federal Government, to Protect Your Privacy
From ACM Opinion

The Case For Looking to the States, Not the Federal Government, to Protect Your Privacy

A year ago, President Obama stood behind a podium at the Federal Trade Commission and called for legislation that would set a single national standard for when...

Forget Ai—the Human-Friendly Future of Computing Is Already Here
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.

Planet Nine May Help ­S Slingshot Our Way to Interstellar Space
From ACM Opinion

Planet Nine May Help ­S Slingshot Our Way to Interstellar Space

In his famous sonnet, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, John Keats describes the moment he first came to appreciate some of the great works of classical antiquity...
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