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
40 Busy Years Later, a Microsoft Founder Considers His Creation
Looking at Microsoft’s sprawling product line and 118,000 or so employees, it’s easy to forget that the company started with one modest product made by two ambitious...
From ACM Opinion
Quantum Computers Will Make Your Laptop Look Like an Abacus
The race to make the first quantum computer is becoming as important as the race 75 years ago to get the first nuke. It could change the balance of power in politics...
From ACM Opinion
The Hidden Politics of Video Games
Imagine that video games had been invented in the Middle Ages.
From ACM News
Brace Yourself: Microsoft Wants to Guess How Old You Are
Like a distant relative who makes you feel bad at the annual holiday get together, Microsoft has created a website that analyzes a photo of a person's face and...
From ACM Opinion
Eff at 25: Remembering the Case that Established Code as Speech
One of EFF's first major legal victories was Bernstein v. Department of Justice, a landmark case that resulted in establishing code as speech and changed United...
From ACM Careers
Facebook Is Eating the Internet
Facebook, it seems, is unstoppable. The social publishing site, just 11 years old, is now the dominant force in American media.
From ACM Opinion
Statistics: P Values Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
There is no statistic more maligned than the P value.
From ACM Opinion
You Can't Backdoor a Platform
According to law enforcement and intelligence agencies, encryption should come with a backdoor.
From ACM Opinion
Mercury Mission Set to End with Dramatic Crash
On 30 April, after more than four years in orbit around Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER probe will plunge to its doom.
From ACM Opinion
Preparing For Warfare in Cyberspace
The Pentagon’s new 33-page cybersecurity strategy is an important evolution in how America proposes to address a top national security threat. It is intended to...
From ACM Opinion
The Future of Sex: It Gets Better
When I was 10 years old, my friend Sarah and I found a newly minted copy of "The Joy of Sex" under her parents' bed.
From ACM Opinion
Considering 'the Philosophy of the Web'
We associate technology with the shiny and new. But humans have been using technology to change the environment and themselves since at least the lower Paleolithic...
From ACM Opinion
Building an Earth-Size Telescope, 1 Station at a Time
Imagine a trio of aerobatic aircraft. Over the years they've gotten very good at their routine. But they want to add another five or six or seven members.
From ACM Opinion
Why the Entire Premise of Tor-Enabled Routers Is Ridiculous
Ars recently reviewed two "Tor routers," devices that are supposed to improve your privacy by routing all traffic through the Tor anonymity network. Although the...
From ACM Opinion
The Fbi's Stance on Encrypted Communications
Imagine an America where federal, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies cannot access critical communications, even when legally authorized to do so.
From ACM Opinion
Should Law Enforcement Have the Ability to Access Encrypted Communications?
People's distress over the privacy of their communications has never been more acute. Whether the fear is over U.S. surveillance or breaches by hackers of unknown...
From Communications of the ACM
Managing Your Digital Life
Everyone should be able to manage their personal data with a personal information management system.
From Communications of the ACM
Teach Foundational Language Principles
Industry is ready and waiting for more graduates educated in the principles of programming languages.
From Communications of the ACM
Oracle v. Google: A High-Stakes Legal Fight For the Software Industry
Copyrighting APIs threatens significant harm to both consumers and the software industry.
From Communications of the ACM