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
There's Only One Truly Open Platform: The Web
As Twitter and Facebook continue to fight a variety of skirmishes in the ongoing "platform wars," with both companies trying to control as much of their networks...
From ACM Opinion
Trust: Ill-Advised in a Digital Age
Bruce Schneieer ordered a Coke, no ice, at the Rio casino on a Saturday afternoon. I ordered Diet Coke, also no ice, and handed the bartender an American Express...
From ACM Opinion
Meet Gauss, the Latest Weapon in the nfolding .s.-Israeli Cyberwar
To the steadily growing list of digital weapons that appear to have been jointly created by the combined resources of the U.S. and Israel, we can now add another...
From ACM Opinion
Why I Love Mars
Every now and then, I spend time on Mars. I dig my naked toes into the fine, red-orange soil, watch how it clings to my skin—and feel an incipient itch.
From ACM Opinion
How Will Apple Restore Icloud Trust?
After being on the receiving end of a truly awful hacking attack, Wired writer Mat Honan explained how it happened in detail. And he was very clear about two of...
From ACM Opinion
How the Icloud Hack Happened and How to Avoid Being Next
Mat Honan, the technology reporter who was digitally disemboweled this past weekend, has revealed exactly how he was so spectacularly owned. His case, a cascade...
From ACM Opinion
How Cyber Security Could Be a Winning Issue for Obama
A blackout in Manhattan. A major dam failure. Mayhem at a chemical plant. Those are all potential, and entirely plausible, consequences of a cyber attack, according...
From ACM Opinion
Seven Reasons Curiosity Is the Baddest Rover Ever
While Curiosity was still flying through space, way before it landed on Mars, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were busy working with a clone rover back...
From ACM Opinion
How Apple and Amazon Security Flaws Led to My Epic Hacking
In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed.
From ACM Opinion
Why Drone Pilots Deserve Medals
The escalating dependence on drone pilots, as Maj. Dave Blair agonized in the May-June issue ofAir & Space Power Journal, is undercutting the ability to award combat...
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Man Who Put the '@' in Your Email
Who invented email? That's a bit like asking, "Who invented the Internet?" Even those with intimate knowledge of its creation can’t agree on the moment it actually...
From ACM Opinion
Neil Degrasse Tyson on the Future of .s. Space Exploration After Curiosity
In two days, NASA's Curiosity rover will hopefully survive its "seven minutes of terror" and land safely on the surface of Mars. What comes next for U.S. space...
From ACM News
How Fbi Technology Woes Let Fort Hood Shooter Slip By
On November 5, 2009, an Army psychiatrist stationed at Fort Hood, Texas shot and killed 12 fellow soldiers and a civilian Defense Department employee while wounding...
From ACM Opinion
Is Algebra Necessary?
A typical American school day finds some six million high school students and two million college freshmen struggling with algebra.
From ACM Opinion
The Frightening Things You Hear at a Black Hat Conference
Here is a look at some of the highlights and scarier happenings taking place at the annual Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas last week.
From ACM Opinion
Tagging and Tracking Espionage Botnets
A security researcher who's spent 18 months cataloging and tracking malicious software that was developed and deployed specifically for spying on governments, activists...
From BLOG@CACM
Should Computer Scientists Change How They Publish?
One of the most popular panels at Snowbird was "Publication Models in Computing Research: Is a Change Needed? Are We Ready for a Change?"
From ACM Opinion
The Public Is Left in the Dark When Courts Allow Electronic Surveillance
A big part of Magistrate Judge Stephen W. Smith's job in Federal District Court in Houston is to consider law enforcement requests for cellphone and email records...
From Communications of the ACM