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­nseen, All-Out Cyber War on the ­.s. Has Begun
From ACM Opinion

­nseen, All-Out Cyber War on the ­.s. Has Begun

There's a war going on, and it's raging here at home—not in the streets or the fields, but on the Internet.

Phreaks and Geeks
From ACM Opinion

Phreaks and Geeks

One of the most heartfelt—and unexpected—remembrances of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide last month at the age of 26, came from Yale professor Edward Tufte.

How Big Data Has Changed Dating
From ACM Opinion

How Big Data Has Changed Dating

Online dating has gone mainstream. Over one third of the 90 million single adults in America have an online dating profile in any given month. And, as Match.com...

Geeks Are the New Guardians of Our Civil Liberties
From ACM Opinion

Geeks Are the New Guardians of Our Civil Liberties

A decade-plus of anthropological fieldwork among hackers and like-minded geeks has led me to the firm conviction that these people are building one of the most...

Meet the Data Brains Behind the Rise of Facebook
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Data Brains Behind the Rise of Facebook

Jay Parikh sits at a desk inside Building 16 at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and his administrative assistant, Genie Samuel, sits next to...

The Increasingly Blurry Line Between Big Data and Big Brother
From ACM Opinion

The Increasingly Blurry Line Between Big Data and Big Brother

The potential benefits of "big data" have been well described, both by us and others: the ability to spot flu trends earlier and potentially save lives, for example...

Eric Schmidt ­nloads on China in New Book
From ACM Opinion

Eric Schmidt ­nloads on China in New Book

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt is brutally clear: China is the most dangerous superpower on Earth.

After Adding Online Privacy Protections, F.t.c. Chief Resigns
From ACM Opinion

After Adding Online Privacy Protections, F.t.c. Chief Resigns

Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said on Thursday that he would resign effective mid-February.

Inside the Targeted Attack on The New York Times
From ACM Opinion

Inside the Targeted Attack on The New York Times

The Chinese group behind the targeted attack on The New York Times was laser focused on accessing the email of a reporter and the newspaper’s former Beijing bureau...

Google's Eric Schmidt: Drone Wars, Virtual Kidnaps, and Privacy For Kids
From ACM Opinion

Google's Eric Schmidt: Drone Wars, Virtual Kidnaps, and Privacy For Kids

Google's chairman has sketched out a future world in which cyberterrorists are targeted by government drone strikes, online identities are taken hostage and held...

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal
From ACM Opinion

A Fuzzy and Shifting Line Between Hacker and Criminal

In January 2011, I was assigned to cover a hearing in Newark, where Daniel Spitler, then 26, stood accused of breaching AT&T's servers and stealing 114,000 email...

The Two Classes of Cyber Threats
From ACM Opinion

The Two Classes of Cyber Threats

There is one number that matters most in cybersecurity.

The Explosive Growth of Postdocs in Computer Science
From Communications of the ACM

The Explosive Growth of Postdocs in Computer Science

Considering the factors influencing the recent rapid increase in the number of postdoctoral positions in computer science.

Cloud Services Certification
From Communications of the ACM

Cloud Services Certification

How to address the lack of transparency, trust, and acceptance in cloud services.

The Value of Microprocessor Designs
From Communications of the ACM

The Value of Microprocessor Designs

Applying a centuries-old technique to modern cost estimation.

Reflections on Stanford's MOOCs
From Communications of the ACM

Reflections on Stanford's MOOCs

New possibilities in online education create new challenges.

Divided By Division
From Communications of the ACM

Divided By Division

Is there a "best used by" date for software?

More Sight on Foresight
From Communications of the ACM

More Sight on Foresight

My previous column, "The Foresight Saga, Redux," began a discussion that is continued here regarding some lessons learned from the 2012 U.S. November elections. In...

The Tangled Web We Have Woven
From Communications of the ACM

The Tangled Web We Have Woven

Seeking to protect the fundamental privacy of network interactions.

Meet the Man Who Would Make Blackberry Apps Cool
From ACM Opinion

Meet the Man Who Would Make Blackberry Apps Cool

Alec Saunders needed a little bait.
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