February 2008 - Vol. 51 No. 2

February 2008 issue cover image

Features

Opinion Editorial pointers

Editorial Pointers

Alternate reality gaming (ARG) is a relatively new genre of collaborative entertainment that combines online information and puzzles with real-world events. Known for their elaborate scavenger hunts, ARGs attract players into interactive plots that often blur the distinction between cyberspace and public space; online cues lead players to real-world clues with the goal of finding […]
News News track

News Track

SciVee.com, funded by the National Science Foundation, is the latest in a growing number of video-sharing startups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves working in the lab or delivering lectures. The media outlet encourages scholars with new research papers to make short videos, or pubcasts, highlighting their key points. The Associated Press reports fans of […]
Opinion Forum

Forum

I strongly disagree with the implication in Steven M. Bellovin et al.’s "Inside Risks" column "Internal Surveillance, External Risks" (Dec. 2007) that because the U.S. is a transit point for so much transcontinental international Internet traffic, U.S. government agencies should be able to intercept international communications transiting the U.S. Internet infrastructure. They said that if […]
News SIG election candidates

SIGs Announce Candidates For Election

In accordance with ACM Bylaw 6, the following SIGs will hold elections in 2008: SIGCAS; SIGGRAPH; SIGSIM, and SIGUCCS. ACM Policy and Procedures require that those SIGs holding elections notify their membership of candidates for elected offices. Here is a list of SIGs that have submitted their slate of candidates. Additional information will appear in […]
News ACM annual report for FY07

ACM Annual Report For FY07

In recent months we have celebrated ACM’s 60th Anniversary and the 50th Anniversary of its flagship publication, Communications of the ACM. Both events signify the enduring role ACM has played as the conduit for the world’s educators, researchers, and professionals to share their common computing interests, inspire new innovation, and reveal their latest research. Indeed, […]
Research and Advances

Municipal Broadband Wireless Networks

"...people lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care and drinkable water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them."---UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in a keynote address to the International Telecommunication Union, Oct. 9, 1999.
Opinion Inside risks

Software Transparency and Purity

Many software programs contain unadvertised functions that upset users when they discover them. These functions are not bugs, but rather operations intended by their designers to be hidden from end users. The problem is not new—Trojan horses and Easter eggs were among the earliest instances—but it is increasingly common and a source of many risks. […]

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