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A Hint of Deterrence in ­.s. Drone-War Strategy

Here’s the trickiest counterterrorism puzzle for U.S. policymakers: How do you stop al-Qaeda from attacking the American homeland without getting bogged down...

Ron Rivest on Fixing Ssl, Apts, and the Future of Security
From ACM Opinion

Ron Rivest on Fixing Ssl, Apts, and the Future of Security

One of the biggest talks at this year's Black Hat Briefings was a presentation on the structural problem with digital certificate authorities by Moxie Marlinspike...

Rebooting the CS Publication Process
From Communications of the ACM

Rebooting the CS Publication Process

A proposal for a new cost-free open-access publication model for computer science papers.

Testing: Failing to Succeed
From Communications of the ACM

Testing: Failing to Succeed

There are two situations in software testing that scare testers: when they see "too many" defects and when they do not see "enough."

Modernizing the Danish Democratic Process
From Communications of the ACM

Modernizing the Danish Democratic Process

Examining the socio-technological issues involved in Denmark's decision to pursue the legalization of electronic elections.

File-System Litter
From Communications of the ACM

File-System Litter

Cleaning up your storage space quickly and efficiently.

The Platform Leader's Dilemma
From Communications of the ACM

The Platform Leader's Dilemma

Studying the lessons learned from past and present platform leaders.

Neal Stephenson Talks Video Games, the Metaverse, and His New Book, Reamde
From ACM Opinion

Neal Stephenson Talks Video Games, the Metaverse, and His New Book, Reamde

Neal Stephenson is known for writing big books about big ideas. In Cryptonomicon, he tackled code breaking and data privacy; the three-volume Baroque Cycle explored...

From ACM Opinion

Life in the Age of Extremes

The Internet causes connections to multiply and strengthen, creating a frenzy of positive feedback, which can drive people apart—not together.

Tech Provides Map For Nation's Future
From ACM Opinion

Tech Provides Map For Nation's Future

As President Barack Obama and Congress roll up their collective sleeves in an effort to jump-start our nation's struggling economy and cut the burgeoning federal...

From ACM News

The America Invents Act and the Individual Inventor

Much has been said about how the newly passed patent reform legislation, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, benefits large corporations. While that argument...

Paypal Founders: Innovation Is Dead
From ACM Opinion

Paypal Founders: Innovation Is Dead

Max Levchin and Peter Thiel are not ones to mince words: "Innovation in this country is somewhere between dire straits and dead," Levchin said at TechCrunch’s...

How 9/11 Completely Changed Surveillance in ­.s.
From ACM Opinion

How 9/11 Completely Changed Surveillance in ­.s.

Former AT&T engineer Mark Klein handed a sheaf of papers in January 2006 to lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, providing smoking-gun evidence that...

Linux Foundation Chief Talks About Torvalds' Leadership, Html5 and Mobile's Future
From ACM TechNews

Linux Foundation Chief Talks About Torvalds' Leadership, Html5 and Mobile's Future

Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin says in an interview that the desktop platform's relevance is diminishing as technologies such as smartphones, connected...

Can Brain Research Keep ­S Safe?
From ACM News

Can Brain Research Keep ­S Safe?

Human conflict is often associated with the emergence of a new science or technology. The Civil War's Gatling gun changed battlefield tactics and led to modern...

From ACM Opinion

Post-9/11, Nsa 'enemies' Include ­s

Somewhere between Sept. 11 and today, the enemy morphed from a handful of terrorists to the American population at large, leaving us nowhere to run and no place...

From ACM Opinion

Internet Memes 101: A Guide to Online Wackiness

In the olden days, it was simple to keep up with pop culture. There were only three channels on TV, and everybody saw the same shows at the same time.

Howard Stern Calls Out Rick Perry For His Anti-Science Views
From ACM Opinion

Howard Stern Calls Out Rick Perry For His Anti-Science Views

No shortage of articles have been published about the deep distrust exhibited by most 2012 Republican presidential candidates toward specific scientific findings—notably...

Howard Stern Calls Out Rick Perry For His Anti-Science Views
From ACM Opinion

Howard Stern Calls Out Rick Perry For His Anti-Science Views

No shortage of articles have been published about the deep distrust exhibited by most 2012 Republican presidential candidates toward specific scientific findings—notably...

From ACM Opinion

A Cloud Over Ownership

Online services set content free from the physical world's constraints—including those that have defined the very idea of possession.
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