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
Minitel, the Open Network Before the Internet
In 1991, most Americans had not yet heard of the internet.
From ACM Opinion
Humans Can't Expect AI to Just Fight Fake News For Them
Here's some news that's not fake: Not everything you can read on the internet is true.
From ACM Opinion
Privacy in the Cellphone Age
Odds are you need to use that phone in your pocket many times a day—and doing so leaves you no choice but to constantly relay data revealing your location and movements...
From ACM Opinion
Why Apple Is Struggling to Become an Artificial-Intelligence Powerhouse
In 2011, Apple became the first company to place artificial intelligence in the pockets of millions of consumers when it launched the voice assistant Siri on the...
From ACM Opinion
How to Call B.s. on Big Data: A Practical Guide
"Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you," the Oxford philosophy professor John Alexander Smith told...
From ACM Opinion
7 in 10 Smartphone Apps Share Your Data with Third-Party Services
Our mobile phones can reveal a lot about ourselves: where we live and work; who our family, friends and acquaintances are; how (and even what) we communicate with...
From ACM Opinion
Here's How Trump's FCC Affects You
President Trump rarely spoke about the Federal Communications Commission during his campaign or after entering the White House.
From ACM Opinion
The Vr Future Is Here but No One Can Agree on a Name For It
At the VR keynote at Google's IO developer conference, a slide appeared on screen to start the morning's presentation. Clay Bavor, head of AR and VR for Google,...
From ACM Opinion
Google, Not the Government, Is Building the Future
One persistent criticism of Silicon Valley is that it no longer works on big, world-changing ideas.
From ACM Opinion
How Privacy Became a Commodity For the Rich and Powerful
Recently I handed over the keys to my email account to a service that promised to turn my spam-bloated inbox into a sparkling model of efficiency in just a few...
From ACM Opinion
Google and Facebook's Idealistic Futures Are Built on Ads
In 2011 a young computer scientist named Jeff Hammerbacher said something profound while explaining why he'd decided to leave Facebook—and the promise of a small...
From ACM Opinion
The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics
In October, when malware called Mirai took over poorly secured webcams and DVRs, and used them to disrupt internet access across the United States, I wondered who...
From ACM Opinion
The 'fix' For Net Neutrality That Consumers Don't Need
Netflix and Amazon have been nominated for hundreds of Emmys and Golden Globe awards in recent years, and that is a testament to both the quality of those companies...
From ACM Opinion
Facebook's Race to Link Your Brain to a Computer Might Be Ânwinnable
"What if you could type directly from your brain?" Regina Dugan said, as the same words appeared on the towering screen behind her, one digital character at a time...
From Communications of the ACM
The Anonymization Debate Should Be About Risk, Not Perfection
Focusing on the process of anonymity rather than pursuing the unattainable goal of guaranteed safety.
From ACM Opinion
President Trump's New Order Gives China Tech Opportunity To 'hire American' Too
The same week that President Trump issued his hire American executive order, the president of one of China's top tech companies said his company wants to do the...
From ACM Opinion
How to Build Your Own Moonshot Lab, According to Astro Teller
From balloon-based Internet to self-driving cars, Astro Teller and his team have produced some of the world's most ambitious technology products.
From ACM Opinion