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
Government Plan to Build 'back Doors' For Online Surveillance Could Create Dangerous Vulnerabilities
Recently, the FBI has been attacking the "going dark" problem—that is, its inability to read all electronic communications—from both legal and technological angles...
From ACM Opinion
Meet the Man Who Sold a Month-Old App to Dropbox For $100m
When Mailbox sold itself to Dropbox for a reported $100 million or so this March, the month-old iPhone app wasn’t even available to the public.
From Communications of the ACM
Access to the Internet Is a Human Right
Connecting Internet access with freedom of expression and creativity.
From Communications of the ACM
Cybercrime, Cyberweapons, Cyber Wars: Is There Too Much of It in the Air?
Where reality stops and perception begins.
From Communications of the ACM
Swamped By Automation
Whenever someone asks you to trust them, don't.
From Communications of the ACM
Thumb Numbers
Rules of thumb stated as numerical rules are enticing, but many are folk theorems that may not apply in your critical situation.
From Communications of the ACM
Learning from the Past to Face the Risks of Today
The Space Shuttle software program can provide guidance to today's projects.
From ACM Opinion
Telecom's Big Players Hold Back the Future
If you were going to look for ground zero in the fight against a rapidly consolidating telecom and cable industry, you might end up on the fifth floor of the Benjamin...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft's T.j. Campana
The Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit has been spearheading botnet takedowns and other anti-cybercrime operations for many years, and it has had remarkable success.
From ACM Opinion
Will Giving the Internet Eyes and Ears Mean the End of Privacy?
The Internet has turned into a massive surveillance tool.
From ACM Opinion
'big Brother' Is Big Business?
The odds are you are not just a face in the crowd any longer.
From ACM Opinion
Calea Ii: Risks of Wiretap Modifications to Endpoints
I join a group of twenty computer scientists in issuing a report criticizing an FBI plan to require makers of secure communication tools to redesign their systems...
From ACM Opinion
Should Patents Be Awarded to Software?
The goal of the U.S. patent system is clear: to provide individuals or companies with an incentive to innovate by offering them 20 years of exclusive rights to...
From ACM Opinion
At Google Conference, Cameras Even in the Bathroom
The future came crashing down on me this week at the Google I/O developer conference while I stood at a bathroom urinal.
From ACM Opinion
Strongbox and Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz was not yet a legend when, almost two years ago, I asked him to build an open-source, anonymous in-box.
From ACM Opinion
Moshe Vardi: Robots Could Put Humans Out of Work By 2045
Robots began replacing human brawn long ago—now they're poised to replace human brains.
From ACM Opinion
The Coming Political Battle Over Bitcoin
Given that Bitcoin first broke into mainstream attention when Gawker explained how to use it to buy drugs, perhaps the surprise is that it took federal regulators...
From ACM Opinion