June 2006 - Vol. 49 No. 6

Features

Opinion Editorial pointers Jun 1 2006

Say the word "hacker" and an indelible image undoubtedly comes to mind. Yes, it’s different for each of us but probably not by much. It’s unfortunate that over the years the negative nuance of the stereotypical hacker has taken center stage in the global spotlight, while the brilliant, skillful, and, yes, ethical, expertise of its […]

Diane Crawford

Computing Applications

News News track Jun 1 2006

News Track

In the battle for precision, the Encyclopædia Britannica recently called for Nature magazine to retract an article it published last December impugning the accuracy of Britannica’s Web site. The article compared the accuracy of two online reference resources—the renowned leader Britannica and the upstart Wikipedia, which is created, written, and edited completely by non-experts. The […]

CACM Staff

Computing Applications

Opinion Forum Jun 1 2006

Forum

I agree with David A. Patterson’s "President’s Letter" ("Computer Science Education in the 21st Century," Mar. 2006) that for CS to be interesting to students, it must also be inherently challenging and relevant. I have too often had to turn away job applicants because they wanted to sit undisturbed writing a masterpiece from scratch. Industry […]

Computing Applications

Opinion President's letter Jun 1 2006

Farewell Address: The Growing and Graying of ACM

As my term ends, I offer my perspective on two important challenges facing ACM.

David A. Patterson

Computing Applications

Opinion The business of software Jun 1 2006

The Learning Edge

Getting into the Flow of software development.

Phillip G. Armour

Computing Applications

News ACM plagiarism policy Jun 1 2006

Plagiarism on the Rise

ACM's Publications Board issues a plagiarism policy to help stem the disturbing increase in occurrences.

Ronald F. Boisvert and Mary Jane Irwin

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Hot links Jun 1 2006

Top 10 Downloads from ACM’s Digital Library

Communications of the ACM Volume 49, Number 6 (2006), Pages 25-26 Hot links: Top 10 downloads from ACM’s digital library Diane Crawford Table of Contents Tables Back to Top Tables Table. The Top 10 Most Popular Papers from ACM’s Refereed Journals and Conference Proceedings Downloaded in March 2006 Table. The 10 Most Popular Courses at […]

Computing Applications

Opinion Legally speaking Jun 1 2006

Copyrighting Standards

Should standards be eligible for copyright protection?

Pamela Samuelson

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Introduction

Why computer science should pay serious attention to the hacking community and its passion for pushing the limits of technology and its role as a counterbalance to its misuse.

Gregory Conti

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Academic Freedom and the Hacker Ethic

Hackers advocate the free pursuit and sharing of knowledge without restriction, even as they acknowledge that applying it is something else.

Tom Cross

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Security Through Legality

The law alone won't prevent an unauthorized visit or even a deliberate attack. Security depends on being able to think like an attacker.

Stephen Bono, Aviel Rubin, Adam Stubblefield, and Matthew Green

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Wireless Hotspots: Petri Dish of Wireless Security

Laptops and PDAs are so vulnerable in wireless hotspots, users would do well to turn them off.

Bruce Potter

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Software Security Is Software Reliability

Enlist hacker expertise, but stay with academic fault naming conventions, when defending against the risk of exploitation of vulnerabilities and intrusions.

Felix "FX" Lindner

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Hacking and innovation Jun 1 2006

Explorations in Namespace: White-Hat Hacking Across the Domain Name System

DNS cache scanning across a sample set of more than 500,000 name servers revealed the extent of last year's Sony rootkit infestation on client machines.

Dan Kaminsky

Architecture and Hardware