Magazine: Summer 2018 | Volume 24, No. 4
The ubiquitous nature of the internet means 247 connectedness: we shop, socialize, communicate, educate, and navigate online. But there is a darkside to all of this access. Myriad patches to try to fix security vulnerabilities, privacy issues, incompatibility, censorship, neutrality and data discrimination, network performance, usability and further functionality improvements have been made in an attempt to address problems and overcome common limitations. Internet organizations, committees, consortiums, task forces, authorities, boards, registries, governing bodies and corporations try hard to regulate and maintain the current version of the internet. However, no matter how sophisticated and well engineered these patches are, issues such as network interference, censorship, privacy, accessibility, unconditional network neutrality, security, and anonymity still remain.
For this issue, our contributors are trying in their
own way to alter, hinder, and fix current internet defaults—mass
surveillance, oligopoly, and censorship—either by technical developments
or policy changes, social movements, and politics.
Download
- Digital Edition web-based magazine available for subscribers – sign in
- PDF via ACM’s Digital Library
COLUMN: INIT
Pseudonimity and anonymity as tools for regaining privacy
By Vasilis Ververis, Gunnar Wolf
COLUMN: Careers
So you want to be an elite hacker? finding your career in cyber operations
By Charles Clancy
DEPARTMENT: Blogs
On earthquakes, lakes, and sensors
The XRDS blog highlights a range of topics from conference coverage, to security and privacy, to CS theory. Selected blog posts, edited for print, are featured in every issue. Please visit xrds.acm.org/blog to read each post in its entirety. If you are interested in joining as a student blogger, please contact us.
By Gunnar Wolf
SECTION: Features
Demistifying the dark web
Anonymity network overlays have a dark shroud of mystery. The "dark web" is known to everybody and nobody. But what is it, really?
By Vasilis Ververis
Autonomous infrastructure for a suckless internet
How can we promote an internet that respects human rights? Investing in autonomous infrastructure built and operated by politically motivated techies, who put their skills at the service of the public interest, may be the answer.
By Stefania Milan
The principle of least authority: how capabilities can improve internet-scale privacy
The core protocols our computers use to communicate across the internet need to be improved in order to give users control over their privacy and protect metadata. Capabilities encode information about what can be done with data into the data itself, and may be a useful building block for the next generation of internet protocols.
By Jack Grigg
Routes to rights: internet architecture and values in times of ossification and commercialization
This article discusses the consequences of the commercialization and evolution of the Internet infrastructure, and how it affects our ability to exercise human rights online.
By Niels ten Oever, Davide Beraldo
Stop looking over our shoulders!
The global push for secure digital identities, privacy tools, and online rights.
By Kali Kaneko
How to fix email: making communication encrypted and decentralized with autocrypt
Email has been declared dead many times but refuses to die. There is a new effort underway to make encrypted end-to-end email communication as automatic as possible. It is part of a diverse set of efforts to reinvigorate the email ecosystem, which remains a crucial cornerstone of a functioning, open internet.
By Holger Krekel, Karissa McKelvey, Emil Lefherz
Can we build a privacy-preserving web browser we all deserve?
The web is the biggest legacy application ever developed or supported by software engineers, but it's also blurring the line between the consumption of data and the leaking of personal details. Browser makers may be the only line of defense.
By Christoph Kerschbaumer, Luke Crouch, Tom Ritter, Tanvi Vyas
The case for regulating social networks and the internet
We don't need to miss out on the joys of technology in order to regain what liberty and democracy are supposed to mean, but the regulatory transformation we need is of epic proportions.
By carlo von lynX
DEPARTMENT: Labz
Encrypting a functionality
Crypto Lab, University of Texas at Austin
By Sepideh Maleki
