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Online Trackers Follow Our Digital Shadow By 'fingerprinting' Browsers, Devices
From ACM Opinion

Online Trackers Follow Our Digital Shadow By 'fingerprinting' Browsers, Devices

As we surf from website to website, we are being tracked—that's not news. What is news, revealed in a recent paper by researchers at Princeton University, is that...

Ted Cruz Is Wrong About How Free Speech Is Censored on the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Ted Cruz Is Wrong About How Free Speech Is Censored on the Internet

Sen. Ted Cruz wants to engineer a United States takeover of a key Internet organization, ICANN, in the name of protecting freedom of expression.

An 'interview' With Google's New Digital Assistant
From ACM Opinion

An 'interview' With Google's New Digital Assistant

Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit introduced a new digital assistant Wednesday. Bloomberg News put the system through its paces by asking questions, some of which were...

Neither Hillary Clinton Nor Donald Trump Is Tech Savvy
From ACM Opinion

Neither Hillary Clinton Nor Donald Trump Is Tech Savvy

Rachel Law, the 20-something co-founder of a New York startup called Kip, is sitting next to me at a café, tapping her phone screen to show how the company’s service...

Everyone Gets the Future Wrong: Lo and Behold Movie Review
From ACM Opinion

Everyone Gets the Future Wrong: Lo and Behold Movie Review

Hackers? Check. Driverless cars? Check. SpaceX? Check. Robots? Check. Elon Musk? Check. ARPANET? Check. Video game addicts? Check. Brainscans? Check. Internet of...

A New Look at the Semantic Web
From Communications of the ACM

A New Look at the Semantic Web

Seeking to make Web data "smarter" by utilizing a new kind of semantics.

Designing AI Systems that Obey Our Laws and Values
From Communications of the ACM

Designing AI Systems that Obey Our Laws and Values

Calling for research on automatic oversight for artificial intelligence systems.

At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality
From ACM Opinion

At 25, the World Wide Web Is Still a Long Way From Reality

Twenty-five years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee unleashed the World Wide Web, publishing the first public webpage. Well, maybe.

Why Facebook Is Really Blocking the Ad Blockers
From ACM Opinion

Why Facebook Is Really Blocking the Ad Blockers

Ads can seem like the bane of the Internet.

Tim Cook: Running Apple 'is Sort of a Lonely Job'
From ACM Opinion

Tim Cook: Running Apple 'is Sort of a Lonely Job'

On a sleek white coffee table in Apple CEO Tim Cook's fourth-floor office in late July, beneath framed posters of Robert F. Kennedy, the Rev. Martin Luther King...

The World's Best Cyber Army Doesn't Belong to Russia
From ACM Opinion

The World's Best Cyber Army Doesn't Belong to Russia

National attention is focused on Russian eavesdroppers' possible targeting of U.S. presidential candidates and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

How One Journalist ­ses Social Media to Get Inside the Minds of Isis
From ACM Opinion

How One Journalist ­ses Social Media to Get Inside the Minds of Isis

Rukmini Callimachi is arguably the best reporter on the most impor­tant beat in the world. As a New York Times correspondent covering terrorism, her work explores...

Dark Patterns Are Designed to Trick You (and They're All Over the Web)
From ACM Opinion

Dark Patterns Are Designed to Trick You (and They're All Over the Web)

It happens to the best of us. After looking closely at a bank statement or cable bill, suddenly a small, unrecognizable charge appears.

America Wants to Believe China Can't Innovate. Tech Tells a Different Story.
From ACM Opinion

America Wants to Believe China Can't Innovate. Tech Tells a Different Story.

Silicon Valley may be powered by organic kale, but when Chinese tech gurus gather at 3W, a coffee shop-slash-incubator in the Chinese capital, they want sunflower...

Orlando Shows the Limits of Facebook's Terror Policing
From ACM Opinion

Orlando Shows the Limits of Facebook's Terror Policing

Both leading up to and during his deadly assault on Orlando night club Pulse, Omar Mateen accessed his Facebook account.

Wikipedia Warns Against French Attempt to Extend Eu Privacy Law Globally
From ACM Opinion

Wikipedia Warns Against French Attempt to Extend Eu Privacy Law Globally

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has said an attempt by France to give an online privacy ruling global force is opening up a "disastrous can of worms" and could...

Elegy For the Capital-I Internet
From ACM Opinion

Elegy For the Capital-I Internet

We've long stopped referring to the Internet as "the information superhighway," but there was a reason for the metaphor.

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants
From ACM Opinion

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants

For the last century, we've imagined a future where we're surrounded by robotic butlers that are classy, smart, and discreet.

Google Doubles Down on AI
From ACM Opinion

Google Doubles Down on AI

Google announced something for everyone yesterday at its 10th annual I/O developer conference.

What If Facebook Gave ­S an Opposing-Viewpoints Button?
From ACM Opinion

What If Facebook Gave ­S an Opposing-Viewpoints Button?

Imagine if you could flip a switch on Facebook, and turn all the conservative viewpoints that you see liberal, or vice versa. You'd realize your news might look...
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