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Net States Rule the World; We Need to Recognize Their Power
From ACM Opinion

Net States Rule the World; We Need to Recognize Their Power

"We reject: kings, presidents, and voting. We believe in: rough consensus and running code." So declared MIT professor David D. Clark in 1992.

Workers Displaced By Automation Should Try a New Job: Caregiver
From ACM Opinion

Workers Displaced By Automation Should Try a New Job: Caregiver

Sooner or later, the US will face mounting job losses due to advances in automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics.

Provoking Iran Could Have ­nseen Cyber Consequences
From ACM Opinion

Provoking Iran Could Have ­nseen Cyber Consequences

On Friday, President Trump announced that he will not certify Iran's cooperation with the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama Administration.

Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue
From ACM Opinion

Algorithms Have Already Gone Rogue

For more than two decades, Tim O'Reilly has been the conscience of the tech industry.

Red-Pilled: My Bizarre Week ­sing the Alt-Right's Vision of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

Red-Pilled: My Bizarre Week ­sing the Alt-Right's Vision of the Internet

Scroll with me here. Somebody named BeatlesBaby makes "a very badass chicken curry." Look, there's a nice sepia-tinted pencil drawing of Ned Stark from Game of...

I Helped Create Facebook's Ad Machine. Here's How I'd Fix It
From ACM Opinion

I Helped Create Facebook's Ad Machine. Here's How I'd Fix It

This month, two magnificently embarrassing public-relations disasters rocked the Facebook money machine like nothing else in its history.

Software Has a Serious Supply-Chain Security Problem
From ACM Opinion

Software Has a Serious Supply-Chain Security Problem

The warnings consumers hear from information security pros tend to focus on trust: Don't click web links or attachments from an untrusted sender.

Apple's Faceid Could Be a Powerful Tool For Mass Spying
From ACM Opinion

Apple's Faceid Could Be a Powerful Tool For Mass Spying

This Tuesday Apple unveiled a new line of phones to much fanfare, but one feature immediately fell under scrutiny:FaceID, a tool that would use facial recognition...

What I Learned at Gerrymandering Summer Camp
From ACM Opinion

What I Learned at Gerrymandering Summer Camp

At 6'5", Aaron Dennis towers over the whiteboard beside him.

Sorry, Banning 'killer Robots' Just Isn't Practical
From ACM Opinion

Sorry, Banning 'killer Robots' Just Isn't Practical

Late Sunday, 116 entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, released a letter to the United Nations warning of the dangerous "Pandora's Box" presented by weapons that...

Everyone Thinks That Automation Will Take Our Jobs. The Evidence Disagrees
From ACM Opinion

Everyone Thinks That Automation Will Take Our Jobs. The Evidence Disagrees

Last year, the Japanese company SoftBank opened a cell phone store in Tokyo and staffed it entirely with sales associates named Pepper. This wasn't as hard as it...

It's Past Time For You to Ditch that Fancy Scientific Calculator
From ACM Opinion

It's Past Time For You to Ditch that Fancy Scientific Calculator

Bruce Sherwood, the author of Matter and Interactions, had a question for me when I saw him at the American Association of Physics Teachers conference not long...

The Attack on Global Privacy Leaves Few Places to Turn
From ACM Opinion

The Attack on Global Privacy Leaves Few Places to Turn

Digital privacy has had a very bad summer. As China and Russia move to block virtual private network services, well over a billion people face losing their best...

What Is Ray Kurzweil ­p To at Google? Writing Your Emails
From ACM Opinion

What Is Ray Kurzweil ­p To at Google? Writing Your Emails

Ray Kurzweil has invented a few things in his time.

Letting Cyberattack Victims Hack Back Is a Very ­nwise Idea
From ACM Opinion

Letting Cyberattack Victims Hack Back Is a Very ­nwise Idea

As the rate of cybercrime increases, so too does the intensity of those attacks.

AI Could Revolutionize War As Much As Nukes
From ACM Opinion

AI Could Revolutionize War As Much As Nukes

In 1899, the world's most powerful nations signed a treaty at The Hague that banned military use of aircraft, fearing the emerging technology's destructive power...

AI Will Make Forging Anything Entirely Too Easy
From ACM Opinion

AI Will Make Forging Anything Entirely Too Easy

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," said an exasperated James Comey in his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8. Comey's desire reflects a...

The Iphone's Turning 10. What Will It Look Like at 20?
From ACM Opinion

The Iphone's Turning 10. What Will It Look Like at 20?

You wake up refreshed. Ever since you got that alarm clock that adapts to your sleep cycle, your calendar, and the traffic report, you practically leap out of bed...

Why Net Neutrality Matters Even in the Age of Oligopoly
From ACM Opinion

Why Net Neutrality Matters Even in the Age of Oligopoly

Next month, Amazon, Netflix, and dozens of other companies and organizations will host a "day of action" aimed at saving net neutrality as we know it.

Humans Can't Expect AI to Just Fight Fake News For Them
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.
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