Communications of the ACM
An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Google Opens p About When Its Self-Driving Cars Have Nearly Crashed
Google says its fleet of automated vehicles, currently undergoing testing, have had 13 near-misses in which a driver had to intervene to prevent a collision.
From ACM News
The New Way Police Are Surveilling You: Calculating Your Threat 'score'
While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspect's...
From ACM News
The Big Data of Bad Driving, and How Insurers Plan to Track Your Every Turn
For years, insurance companies have used estimates of your annual mileage to determine your car insurance rates.
From ACM News
The A.i. Anxiety
The world’s spookiest philosopher is Nick Bostrom, a thin, soft-spoken Swede.
From ACM News
Tech Companies Are Slamming a Proposed k Terrorism Law. Here's Why.
The world's biggest tech firms—including Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo—are pressing for changes to a proposed British law aimed at expanding the government's electronic...
From ACM Opinion
5 Amazing and Alarming Things That May Be Done with Your Dna
"You're a male, you're 34-years-old and your 5-foot-10 1/2 inches tall." That's a prediction that Craig Venter, long a pioneer on the frontier of genomics, offered...
From ACM Careers
The Nsa School: How the Intelligence Community Gets Smarter, Secretly
Leonard Reinsfelder's wife found a note on her car as she was leaving a shopping center one day: "Have your husband give us a call. We think we could use him."
From ACM News
With Court Order, Federal Judge Seeks to Fuel Debate About Data Encryption
A federal judge in New York is seeking to expand to the courts the hot debate over whether tech companies should be forced to find ways to unlock encrypted smartphones...
From ACM News
.S. Developing Sanctions Against China Over Cyberthefts
The Obama administration is developing a package of unprecedented economic sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals who have benefited from their government's...
From ACM Opinion
Why the Ftc Is Showing p at Hackers' Biggest Conferences
The Federal Trade Commission, the de facto federal watchdog for consumers' privacy and data security, knows it needs help.
From ACM News
Inside the Fake Town in Michigan Where Self-Driving Cars Are Being Tested
Later this year a Michigan pedestrian named Sebastian will spend his days throwing himself in the path of speeding cars.
From ACM News
A Disaster Foretold — and Ignored
LOpht's warnings about the Internet drew notice, but little action.
From ACM News
Facial Recognition Technology Is Everywhere. It May Not Be Legal.
Being anonymous in public might be a thing of the past.
From ACM TechNews
The Government's High-Tech Plan For Identifying You Based on Your Tattoos
The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology has reviewed the results of a challenge to develop systems to identify a person based on their tattoos.
From ACM Opinion
How the Country's Top Privacy Cop Is Trying to Protect Consumers in the Digital Age
As the digital economy has exploded, tech companies are collecting untold amounts of data on everyday Americans.
From ACM News
The Long Life of a Quick 'fix'
By the time a pair of engineers sat down for lunch together in Austin, the Internet's growing pains had become dire.
From ACM News
The House Just Passed a Bill About Space Mining
For as long as we've existed, humans have looked up at the stars—and wondered.
From ACM News
Tech Giants Don’t Want Obama to Give Police Access to Encrypted Phone Data
Technology companies, trade associations, and security and policy experts are urging President Obama to reject proposals to weaken security of communication devices...
From ACM News
As Encryption Spreads, U.s. Grapples with Clash Between Privacy, Security
For months, federal law enforcement agencies and industry have been deadlocked on a highly contentious issue: Should tech companies be obliged to guarantee government...
From ACM TechNews