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Trust in Digital Technology Will Be the Internet's Next Frontier, For 2018 and Beyond
From ACM Opinion

Trust in Digital Technology Will Be the Internet's Next Frontier, For 2018 and Beyond

After decades of unbridled enthusiasm—bordering on addiction—about all things digital, the public may be losing trust in technology.

The Big Tech Trends to Follow at Ces 2018
From ACM Opinion

The Big Tech Trends to Follow at Ces 2018

Imagine this: When you leave the house, your air conditioner and lights turn off automatically. Then when a motion sensor detects a person in the house, like your...

8 Overly Confident, Mostly Pessimistic Predictions About Tech in 2018
From ACM Opinion

8 Overly Confident, Mostly Pessimistic Predictions About Tech in 2018

It was a very strange year for technology companies. They have become a "bipartisan whipping boy," a new sexist institution, responsible for the muddying of the...

10 Ways Tech Will Shape Your Life in 2018, For Better and Worse
From ACM Opinion

10 Ways Tech Will Shape Your Life in 2018, For Better and Worse

Is the outlook for technology in 2018 exciting—or slightly terrifying? Flip a coin. You'd be right either way.

Goodbye Internet: How Regional Divides ­pended the World Wide Web
From ACM Opinion

Goodbye Internet: How Regional Divides ­pended the World Wide Web

So, there you have it: 2017 was the year that finally broke the internet.

A ­nified Theory of Meme Death
From ACM Opinion

A ­nified Theory of Meme Death

Memes aren't built to last. This is an accepted fact of online life.

The Tech Giants' Secret War Against Fake News Is Too Secret
From ACM Opinion

The Tech Giants' Secret War Against Fake News Is Too Secret

Facebook, Google, and Twitter have a problem with harmful content.

Borders in the Cloud
From ACM Opinion

Borders in the Cloud

Amazon may well be one of the companies with the strongest data security in the world.

Tim Berners-Lee on the Future of the Web: 'the System Is Failing'
From ACM Opinion

Tim Berners-Lee on the Future of the Web: 'the System Is Failing'

Sir Tim Berners-Lee's optimism about the future of the web is starting to wane in the face of a "nasty storm" of issues including the rollback of net neutrality...

Confirm or Deny: Jaron Lanier
From ACM Opinion

Confirm or Deny: Jaron Lanier

Maureen Dowd: You often get confused for the lead singer of Korn. Jaron Lanier: No, never. I'm often confused with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm kidding.

What Reality Tv Teaches ­S About Russia's Influence Campaign
From ACM Opinion

What Reality Tv Teaches ­S About Russia's Influence Campaign

In May 2016, a Facebook page called Heart of Texas urged its nearly 254,000 followers to rise up against what it considered to be an urgent cultural menace.

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.

Why Facebook and Twitter Can't Be Trusted to Police Themselves
From ACM Opinion

Why Facebook and Twitter Can't Be Trusted to Police Themselves

Google, Facebook and Twitter took a beating on Wednesday testifying in front of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees about their role enabling Russia's...

Learning to Spot Fake News: Start with a Gut Check
From ACM Opinion

Learning to Spot Fake News: Start with a Gut Check

Which of these statements seems more trustworthy to you?

Does Facebook Even Know How to Control Facebook?
From ACM Opinion

Does Facebook Even Know How to Control Facebook?

Later today, executives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter will go before the Senate Intelligence Committee to testify about the ways that Russian operatives used...

Russia Is Pushing to Control Cyberspace. We Should All Be Worried. 
From ACM Opinion

Russia Is Pushing to Control Cyberspace. We Should All Be Worried. 

Russia's cyber-meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has been accompanied by what U.S. and European experts describe as a worrisome Kremlin campaign to...

There's No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case
From ACM Opinion

There's No Good Decision in the Next Big Data Privacy Case

In 2013, United States agents served a warrant on Microsoft seeking the emails of a suspect in a drug case.

Smartphones Are Weapons of Mass Manipulation, and This Guy Is Declaring War on Them
From ACM Opinion

Smartphones Are Weapons of Mass Manipulation, and This Guy Is Declaring War on Them

If, like an ever-growing majority of people in the U.S., you own a smartphone, you might have the sense that apps in the age of the pocket-sized computer are designed...

The 15 Most Influential Websites of All Time
From ACM Opinion

The 15 Most Influential Websites of All Time

The web, or "world wide web" as we used to say, turns 27 years old on December 20. On that date, nearly three decades ago, British engineer and scientist Tim Berners...

The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions
From ACM Opinion

The Seven Deadly Sins of AI Predictions

We are surrounded by hysteria about the future of artificial intelligence and robotics—hysteria about how powerful they will become, how quickly, and what they...
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