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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectComputers And Society
authorThe Atlantic
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The Cynical Gambit to Make 'fake News' Meaningless
From ACM Opinion

The Cynical Gambit to Make 'fake News' Meaningless

For a term that is suddenly everywhere, "fake news" is fairly slippery.

The Lost Civilization of Dial-­p Bulletin Board Systems
From ACM Opinion

The Lost Civilization of Dial-­p Bulletin Board Systems

I have a vivid, recurring dream. I climb the stairs in my parents' house to see my old bedroom. In the back corner, I hear a faint humming.

Chinese Characters Are Futuristic and the Alphabet Is Old News
From ACM Opinion

Chinese Characters Are Futuristic and the Alphabet Is Old News

On a bright fall morning at Stanford, Tom Mullaney is telling me what's wrong with QWERTY keyboards.

How Twitter Bots Are Shaping the Election
From ACM Opinion

How Twitter Bots Are Shaping the Election

There is power in numbers, or so the saying goes. But statistics mean different things to different people. Take Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, for instance.

Incessant Consumer Surveillance Is Leaking Into Physical Stores
From ACM Opinion

Incessant Consumer Surveillance Is Leaking Into Physical Stores

You just wanted to shop for a birthday gift in peace—instead, you got ads that follow you around the internet, and coupons in your email that remember exactly which...

How to Turn Your Self-Driving Car Into a Time Machine
From ACM Opinion

How to Turn Your Self-Driving Car Into a Time Machine

The self-driving car's greatest promise is that it will buy its passengers that most precious and finite of resources: time.

How Long ­ntil Hackers Start Faking Leaked Documents?
From ACM Opinion

How Long ­ntil Hackers Start Faking Leaked Documents?

In the past few years, the devastating effects of hackers breaking into an organization's network, stealing confidential data, and publishing everything have been...

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election
From ACM Opinion

How Electronic Voting Could ­ndermine the Election

It's 2016: What possible reason is there to vote on paper? When we use touchscreens to communicate, work, and shop, why can't we use similar technology to vote?

The Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia
From ACM Opinion

The Lopsided Geography of Wikipedia

Think about how often, in the course of a week, you visit Wikipedia.

What Happens If Gps Fails?
From ACM Opinion

What Happens If Gps Fails?

In only took thirteen millionths of a second to cause a whole lot of problems.

Will the Constitution Protect Your Next Smartphone?
From ACM Opinion

Will the Constitution Protect Your Next Smartphone?

More than a decade ago, the keynote speaker at a major annual cybersecurity conference strode into the spotlight and predicted the death of the password.

Elegy For the Capital-I Internet
From ACM Opinion

Elegy For the Capital-I Internet

We've long stopped referring to the Internet as "the information superhighway," but there was a reason for the metaphor.

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants
From ACM Opinion

The Privacy Problem with Digital Assistants

For the last century, we've imagined a future where we're surrounded by robotic butlers that are classy, smart, and discreet.

The Seven Deadly Social Networks
From ACM Opinion

The Seven Deadly Social Networks

Almost five years ago, in a soliloquy transcribed by The Wall Street Journal, Reid Hoffman suggested a comprehensive theory of social-network success.

You Can't Escape Data Surveillance In America
From ACM Opinion

You Can't Escape Data Surveillance In America

In America, surveillance has always played an outsized role in the relationship between creditors and debtors.

One Easy Way to Make Wikipedia Better
From ACM Opinion

One Easy Way to Make Wikipedia Better

The Pacific Northwest tree octopus existed years before Wikipedia was founded. I’m using "existed" loosely here, of course, because there's no such thing as a Pacific...

How Early Computer Games Influenced Internet Culture
From ACM Opinion

How Early Computer Games Influenced Internet Culture

Sometimes it seems the Internet is, at its core, a tremendous nostalgia machine.

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support
From ACM Opinion

Why Technological Innovation Relies on Government Support

Andy Grove, the Silicon Valley pioneer who died last week at age 79, was many things: a survivor of the Nazi occupation of Hungary and refugee of Cold War Eastern...

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy
From ACM Opinion

How Self-Driving Cars Will Threaten Privacy

Allow me to join you, if I may, on your morning commute sometime in the indeterminate future.

Toward the End of Pilots
From ACM Opinion

Toward the End of Pilots

A memory that’s stayed with me from my stint in the military nearly 50 years ago is a sign that my supply sergeant kept on his desk: "We’ve been working with less...
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