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China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the ­S Has No Plan
From ACM Opinion

China Will Likely Corner the 5G Market, and the ­S Has No Plan

You may have heard that China has cornered much of the world's supply of strategic metals and minerals crucial for new technology, including lithium, rare earths...

What Trump's Executive Order on AI Is Missing
From ACM Opinion

What Trump's Executive Order on AI Is Missing

President Trump signed an executive order on February 11 meant to shore up our competitive position in the international race for AI supremacy, but it is short...

Trump's Plan to Keep America First in AI
From ACM Opinion

Trump's Plan to Keep America First in AI

The US leads the world in artificial intelligence technology. Decades of federal research funding, industrial and academic research, and streams of foreign talent...

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology
From ACM Opinion

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology

In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: "We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without...

Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues
From ACM Opinion

Trump Pledges Investment, But Is Silent on Key Tech Issues

In his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Trump promised legislation to invest in "the cutting edge industries of the future." But the speech was characteristically...

Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try
From ACM Opinion

Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try

You probably know about the digital anonymity service Tor, but for whatever reason you may not actually use it.

Don't Fear the Robot Overlords; Embrace Them as Coworkers
From ACM Opinion

Don't Fear the Robot Overlords; Embrace Them as Coworkers

In a chilly warehouse just outside of Boston, the brute toils away. It's 600 pounds of orange and black metal and whirring motors, a massive robotic arm that picks...

The ­S Needs to Engage China on Tech, Or Risk Isolating Itself
From ACM Opinion

The ­S Needs to Engage China on Tech, Or Risk Isolating Itself

The contrast could hardly be more striking. In October, Vice President Mike Pence delivered a blistering speech accusing China of stealing prized US technology...

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing
From ACM Opinion

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing

When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant failed, leaking radioactive material...

Try Landing InSight on Mars (Without Exploding)
From ACM Opinion

Try Landing InSight on Mars (Without Exploding)

NASA just parked its InSight lander on Mars. Yes, Mars. This is a pretty big deal since quite a few Mars missions didn't make it.

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi
From ACM Opinion

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi

As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you'll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this ...

Surveillance Kills Freedom By Killing Experimentation
From ACM Opinion

Surveillance Kills Freedom By Killing Experimentation

In my book Data and Goliath, I write about the value of privacy. I talk about how it is essential for political liberty and justice, and for commercial fairness...

How to Hack an Election (Without Touching the Machines)
From ACM Opinion

How to Hack an Election (Without Touching the Machines)

On Monday morning, just 24 hours before polls opened in the US midterm elections, President Trump sounded an alarm with a Tweet: "Law Enforcement has been strongly...

What the Midterm Election Results Mean for Big Tech
From ACM Opinion

What the Midterm Election Results Mean for Big Tech

It may not have been the tsunami some expected, but the Democrat's long-promised blue wave was enough to carry the party to a majority in the House of Representatives ...

What the Boston School Bus Schedule Can Teach ­s About AI
From ACM Opinion

What the Boston School Bus Schedule Can Teach ­s About AI

When the Boston public school system announced new start times last December, some parents found the schedules unacceptable and pushed back.

The Real Houseguest of the Ecuadorian Embassy
From ACM Opinion

The Real Houseguest of the Ecuadorian Embassy

If Julian Assange of WikiLeaks denies the Ecuadorian government's stinging charge that he's a disgusting houseguest, he'd do well not to deny that charge "categorically...

Author Richard K. Morgan Wants to Destroy Your Mars Fantasies
From ACM Opinion

Author Richard K. Morgan Wants to Destroy Your Mars Fantasies

Richard K. Morgan has spent most of the past decade working on his fantasy trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes.

Paper and the Case for Going Low-Tech in the Voting Booth
From ACM Opinion

Paper and the Case for Going Low-Tech in the Voting Booth

In September 2017, barely two months before Virginians went to the polls to pick a new governor, the state's board of elections convened an emergency session. The...

Why the Search for Aliens Could ­nite ­s Here on Earth
From ACM Opinion

Why the Search for Aliens Could ­nite ­s Here on Earth

If aliens are trying to talk to us (or even if they are not), Jill Tarter will be the one to find them.

Paul Allen Thought Like a Hacker and Never Stopped Dreaming
From ACM Opinion

Paul Allen Thought Like a Hacker and Never Stopped Dreaming

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