Recommended Computing Reads This Week

White Hat Car Hacking Makes Cars Safer
A commissioner of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission argues that lawmakers should clear a legal path that lets researchers probe the security of cars and other vehicles. Congress this week discussed legislation that would make it illegal to examine code inside cars to identify weaknesses.

Playing Defense Against the Drones
An in-depth look at the diverse and frenzied efforts to develop technology to track, identify, and even disable drones. This week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announced that many drones, even those owned by hobbyists, would have to be registered with the government, after hundreds of incidents in which the craft were spotted by pilots or near airports.

Women in the Developing World Are 50 Percent Less Likely Than Men to Access the Internet
A new report finds wide gender disparities in Internet access in parts of the world that are just coming online. The United Nations and companies such as Google and Facebook have launched efforts to widen Internet access in poor regions in recent years, saying it is needed to provide educational and economic opportunities (see “10 Breakthrough Technologies 2015: Project Loon”).

Apple Pulls 250 Privacy-Infringing Apps from Store
Chinese ad company Youmi used apps with its ad technology inside to secretly collect private information from iPhone owners. The episode is a reminder that many apps include code provided by third parties for the purposes of targeting ads and tracking user activity.