Communications of the ACM
The Success of the Web: A Triumph of the Amateurs
Connecting the unique factors that influenced the origination and subsequent development of the World Wide Web.
From Communications of the ACM
The Web Is Missing an Essential Part of Infrastructure: An Open Web Index
A proposal for building an index of the Web that separates the infrastructure part of the search engine—the index—from the services part that will form the basis...
From ACM Opinion
Cars Are Regulated for Safety, Why Not Information Technology?
As the computing industry grapples with its role in society, many people, both in the field and outside it, are talking about a crisis of ethics.
From ACM Opinion
Facebook and Google Aren't the Only Ones Tracking Your Clicks
Criticism of big tech companies that track us across the internet without our informed consent misses a bigger picture: There are hundreds of ad-tracking companies...
From ACM Opinion
The ncanny Valley Nobody's Talking About: Eerie Robot Voices
Call it the Great Convergence of Creepiness. The first bit, the uncanny valley, we're all familiar with by now: If a humanoid robot looks super realistic, but not...
From ACM Opinion
How 2D Semiconductors Could Extend Moore's Law
The number of components in electronic circuits has doubled every two years since the 1960s—a trend known as Moore's law.
From ACM Opinion
The FAA Rigorously Tested the Boeing 737's Software
Two Boeing 737 Max 8 airplanes have crashed under similar circumstances in the past six months, one in October in Indonesia and the other in Ethiopia last week....
From ACM Opinion
A Second 737 Max Crash Raises Questions about Airplane Automation
As you read this, over a million people are in flight. Close to a third of the commercial airplanes in the sky at any given moment are Boeing 737s: it is the best...
From ACM Opinion
Berners-Lee Says World Wide Web, at 30, Must Emerge from 'Adolescence'
The fraying World Wide Web needs to rediscover its strengths and grow into maturity, its designer Tim Berners-Lee said on Monday, marking the 30th anniversary of...
From ACM Opinion
FBI Head Christopher Wray: We Can't Let Criminals Hide Behind Encryption
Encryption should have limits. That's the message FBI Director Christopher Wray had for cybersecurity experts Tuesday.
From ACM Opinion
NSA's Top Policy Advisor: It's Time to Start Putting Teeth in Cyber Deterrence
At an industry event in Hanover, Maryland last week, former National Security Council cybersecurity policy coordinator and acting Homeland Security Advisor Rob...
From ACM Opinion
Limiting Your Digital Footprints in a Surveillance State
What are your most important tech tools for reporting in Shanghai, especially with a government known for surveillance?
From ACM Opinion
Are We Really the Smartest Kid on the Cosmic Block?
It is unclear how many intelligent civilizations have arisen in the Milky Way galaxy so far, but if some have, a pressing question comes to mind: Were they or are...
From ACM Opinion
'The Risk Paid Off': How Apple Prevailed in the .S.-China Trade War
President Donald Trump's trade war with China has left a trail of economic wreckage across American industries from soybean farms to auto manufacturers.
From ACM News
China Is Catching p to the S on Artificial Intelligence Research
Researchers, companies and countries around the world are racing to explore—and exploit—the possibilities of artificial intelligence technology.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Let Robots Pull the Trigger
The killer machines are coming. Robotic weapons that target and destroy without human supervision are poised to start a revolution in warfare comparable to the...
From ACM Opinion
Beware of Plausible Predictions of Fantasy Materials
The hunt is on for materials that have exotic properties, to enhance quantum computers, touch screens and electronic displays, and to double the efficiency of solar...
From ACM Opinion
Don't Be Fooled by Fake Images and Videos Online
One month before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, an "Access Hollywood" recording of Donald Trump was released in which he was heard lewdly talking about women...
From ACM Opinion