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Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try
From ACM Opinion

Tor Is Easier Than Ever. Time to Give It a Try

You probably know about the digital anonymity service Tor, but for whatever reason you may not actually use it.

Is Quantum Computing a Cybersecurity Threat?
From ACM Opinion

Is Quantum Computing a Cybersecurity Threat?

Cybersecurity researchers and analysts are rightly worried that a new type of computer, based on quantum physics rather than more standard electronics, could ...

Don't Fear the Robot Overlords; Embrace Them as Coworkers
From ACM Opinion

Don't Fear the Robot Overlords; Embrace Them as Coworkers

In a chilly warehouse just outside of Boston, the brute toils away. It's 600 pounds of orange and black metal and whirring motors, a massive robotic arm that picks...

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing
From ACM Opinion

The Tech That Was Fixed in 2018 and the Tech That Still Needs Fixing

Personal technology was so awful this year that nobody would think you were paranoid if you dug a hole and buried your computer, phone and smart speaker under six...

How China Got a Head Start in Fintech, and Why the West Won't Catch ­p
From ACM Opinion

How China Got a Head Start in Fintech, and Why the West Won't Catch ­p

In 2013 I moved from Paris to Beijing to study China's financial system. I stayed for two years and became fluent enough to translate economics books from Mandarin...

The Search for Anti-Conservative Bias on Google
From ACM Opinion

The Search for Anti-Conservative Bias on Google

Last Wednesday, a day after Google's C.E.O., Sundar Pichai, sat before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the company's search engine,Donald...

Google Isn't the Company that We Should Have Handed the Web Over To
From ACM Opinion

Google Isn't the Company that We Should Have Handed the Web Over To

With Microsoft's decision to end development of its own Web rendering engine and switch to Chromium, control over the Web has functionally been ceded to Google....

Classical and Quantum Computers Are Vying for Superiority
From ACM Opinion

Classical and Quantum Computers Are Vying for Superiority

Will 2019 be the year when quantum computers show they have the right stuff? Google says so; one of the company's labs, in Santa Barbara, California, has promised...

Time Travel Is Possible, but Only If You Have an Object with Infinite Mass
From ACM Opinion

Time Travel Is Possible, but Only If You Have an Object with Infinite Mass

The concept of time travel has always captured the imagination of physicists and laypersons alike. But is it really possible? Of course it is.

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country
From ACM Opinion

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country

The growing use of work robots and the deployment of artificial intelligence have been most disruptive in just those areas of the country that provided President...

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing
From ACM Opinion

What the California Wildfires Can Teach ­s About Data Sharing

When a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant failed, leaking radioactive material...

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?
From ACM Opinion

Can the ­.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age?

Imagine, if you will (and you should), a big American tech executive being detained over unspecified charges while on a trip to Beijing.

Is the ­.S. Lagging in the Quest for Quantum Computing?
From ACM Opinion

Is the ­.S. Lagging in the Quest for Quantum Computing?

A quantum computer capable of breaking the strongest codes protecting online communications and computer data is highly unlikely to appear within the next decade...

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s
From ACM Opinion

The End of Privacy Began in the 1960s

In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson's administration announced a plan to consolidate hundreds of federal databases into one centralized National Data...

Mars Beckons
From ACM Opinion

Mars Beckons

The science and technology behind NASA's latest space explorer to land on Mars are so awe-inducing that it's hardly surprising when scientists commenting on the...

The New Radicalization of the Internet
From ACM Opinion

The New Radicalization of the Internet

Social media has played a key role in the recent rise of violent right-wing extremism in the United States, including three recent incidents—one in which a man...

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi
From ACM Opinion

You Know What? Go Ahead and ­se the Hotel Wi-Fi

As you travel this holiday season, bouncing from airport to airplane to hotel, you'll likely find yourself facing a familiar quandary: Do I really trust this ...

Video Doesn't Capture Truth
From ACM Opinion

Video Doesn't Capture Truth

The White House has revoked the press pass of Jim Acosta, CNN's chief White House correspondent, after a testy exchange between the reporter and President Trump...

The Case Against Quantum Computing
From ACM Opinion

The Case Against Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is all the rage. It seems like hardly a day goes by without some news outlet describing the extraordinary things this technology promises.

Surveillance Kills Freedom By Killing Experimentation
From ACM Opinion

Surveillance Kills Freedom By Killing Experimentation

In my book Data and Goliath, I write about the value of privacy. I talk about how it is essential for political liberty and justice, and for commercial fairness...
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