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A word of caution to the droning community

adiru

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My word of caution to the community at large, or rather maybe just more narrowly tailored to the Mavic tuning/unlocking/etc community as a whole is to be careful of false prophets. In this particular instance, for those that don't already know, I wanted to give the heads up that "superman", aka "hostile", aka "Red Herring" guy, aka "DJI Problem" (on twitter), aka "/d0tslash" aka "KF" aka Kevin Finisterre (okay you get the point, the guy has like a gazillion aliases) is not what it appears or seems to be. Or at the very least, I'll qualify my remarks and just state my opinion that I believe there has been a great misrepresentation. And his true intent and larger bigger picture motive is counter to the mission of drone freedom.

Some in the community have labeled this guy "superhero" or "savior" and believe him to be in essence more or less "on our side"... but nothing could be further from the truth.

The TL;DR, version is this: "KF" aka Kevin Finisterre recently released some recent exploits that made Mavic and some other DJI drones "root"able for the primary purpose of "sounding the alarm" to the dangers of droning, and to use DJI's own customer base against them for the sole purpose of in order to forcibly compel DJI to learn from their security mistakes and to be far more locked down in all their products in the future.

So while it may seem to some or many that Kevin Finisterre did the community a favor, in my opinion his heart wasn't in the right place, it wasn't aligned with the very community that he used as leverage against DJI, the community that applauded him, the community that in part he aroused up in order to get DJI to do his bidding, and his motive and intent is largely the exact opposite of that of ours.

For example, he is of the opinion that DJI hasn't done enough to lock down the Mavic and all other drones. He told me directly that his greatest fundamental philosophical disagreement with the DJI attorney is DJI attorney /legal refused to acknowledge that DJI drones are essentially weapons of war, akin to AK-47's in the movie "Lord of War" (specifically his quote/reference) He also publicly stated in many talks that DJI is essentially guilty of "proliferation" of drones, and of allowing "military grade" hardware (including in his opinion the Mavic itself is 'military grade') into the hands of everyone (public, terrorists, etc) without sufficient "export controls" nor enough "denied party screening" or "supply chain tracking". He also is of the opinion that DJI has not done enough to publicly acknowledge the dangers and threats of its drones, including not publicly acknowledge that DJI drones are being weaponized in theaters of war, and are essentially weapons/arms that should be subject to ITAR.

This guy only "leaked" the exploits because it is his masterful attempt at bringing attention to the bigger picture problem to FORCE DJI to 'lock down' hard... Sometime that likely DJI would otherwise not have addressedd and would have been content to let the likes of CopterSafe have at it for as long as it didn't attract too much attention or bad press. He tried first to get DJI's attention the "diplomatic" way though legal channels and when that "fell on deaf ears" he took the radical extreme approach. This was in essence his way of "forcing the conversation" or in my opinion his attempt to hijack the conversation/debate and strongarm others to see things his way.

The guy works for an organization called Department 13 which specializes in “countering the drone threat”. One of his websites is called digitalmunitions and he believes that just because some bad guys in the Middle East have used Toyota trucks to do bad things (like mount guns on those trucks and used the trucks as a platform for transporting the mounted firearms) that Toyota is a proliferator of a certain type of weapon known as a “truck”. He applies the same or similar analogy to DJI drones, stating that because DJI drones have been known in particular instances to have facilitated attacks on US troops abroad by members of “ISIS” who alleged used some of these drones to drop grenades from the air, that DJI is also a weapons proliferator and an arms dealer, simply because their off the shelf drone was used as a delivery mechanism for the payload (explosive grenades).

So in his mind, it is not simply enough that the actual explosive or gunpowder or active chemical substance be classified as an explosive, danger, threat, weapon, arms etc and it is not enough that the grenade or bomb and its derivative mechanisms be classified and labeled too as weapons and arms, but that one must widen the scope, to include other derivative degrees of association however remote or nonsensical, and to arrive at the position and the social stance that if a truck is used in war in any manner whatsoever, even though it is a civilian truck, it should be classified as a weapon or an arms. And that if a drone is used to drop a grenade or a bomb, then the drone itself becomes the weapon, and should be treated and identified as no different as the actual underlying explosive mechanism itself. So it isn’t enough in his mind that we as a society regulate and control actual weapons, real arms, but that we must also take the steps and classify anything that could remotely have been associated with weapons to be themselves weapons as well.

Well that is a slippery slope if I ever heard of one. And I don’t think those in the drone community would largely concur with KF’s stance that drones are a major threat that must be controlled, regulated and countered and that toy makers like DJI should be branded as arms dealers and guilty of war crimes and proliferation.



Kevin Finisterre Reveals His Process for Security Research

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He's so extreme that no one will give a ****. I get what you're saying bro and it makes sense. But if it wasnt unlocked/jailbroken by him it would have been someone else. It was inevitable due to DJI and their over reaction and strong arm tactics.

Just ask Apple how the "lockdowns" worked for them.

I'm still waiting for the drone doomsday or one of the other thousand "what ifs" scenarios the Drone Police blab about. The doomsday that going to kill someone, eat babies, and down airliners. The horrible event that will cause the U.S. Government to ban 2lbs pieces of airborne plastic.

Please, for the sake of America's children, ban the insane killing machine known as the Mavic!
 
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Interesting reading.

By the way, if anyone here is looking for state of the art, off the chart illegal, bioweapons, let me share with you where exactly you can find these, at bioweapon "defense" labs, and pretty much nowhere else. Food for thought.
 
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Paranoia much?

Oh wait, that was already revealed with the non-existent "DJI C&D" stuff...

If you're looking for a culprit to revealing flaws and potentially leading to a response and further lockdown attempts from DJI you should be looking at a Russian guy who did it to amass piles of cash by ripping off people.

Coptersafe are the ones who took existing underground knowledge and got it known and widespread purely for business/money - the rest is only "natural" response to that.

The most funny thing is that should they not have overpriced their stuff that much it probably wouldn't have sparked such a strong response and that much effort to get around it - that was naturally going to be proportional to how outrageous it seemed.

Too bad the threads have been deleted/mangled, but funnily enough I was right on the ball with all my predictions on the topic.
 
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I'm going to have to disagree with the OP. This is focusing on the sole intent to use the drone as a weapon. Let's be honest...these can be used as a weapon (or platform to deliver a weapon) out of the box without mods. Just like a Toyota truck, pressure cooker, a backpack full of explosives, or even your hands. I find it surprising that people have no issues with Coptersafe (which is owned by Russians) hacking the drones at a charge but allowing people to do it free is a problem? Shouldn't the anger be directed at companies like that ripping people off and DJI allowing them to do so? It was because of Coptersafe these exploits were discovered.
 
Mr Pot? Ms Kettle?
please meet Mr Black!!!

btw I find legal cannabis helps with the kind of agitation the OP is having... just saying...
 
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Mr Pot? Ms Kettle?
please meet Mr Black!!!

btw I find legal cannabis helps with the kind of agitation the OP is having... just saying...
I don't think the OP has an issue with modification of drones, it the alleged motivation underlying some individuals in bringing these modifications to our attention that is his concern (if I'm following him correctly !)
 
I don't think the OP has an issue with modification of drones, it the alleged motivation underlying some individuals in bringing these modifications to our attention that is his concern (if I'm following him correctly !)

We know that, but if you participate in an act, any act, you should consider all consequences before you proceed.

There is absolutely no point to this original post.
 
Kevin is very upfront about what he does. Like all other new technologies, drones can be misused and manufacturers don't think to address ethical aspects of their production until they are forced to do so. (If you think GEO is just that, you are being naive.)

Just because jerry-rigged, mortar-carrying drones aren't ruining your day, doesn't mean we should all ignore them. Kevin made a point that DJI's very first geofence was not a war zone but Tienanmen Sq in Beijing. If you don't know why that's important, look it up!

And just to be as transparent as Kevin, my interests are:

1. DJI employ strong security and quality standards and practices in their products.
2. DJI distinguish professional users (like myself) from amateurs flying their first drone (no disrespect).
3. Until DJI does 1 and 2, we have the ability to circumvent their nannyware controls.

As such, Kevin and co have done quite a bit to achieve #3 and may very well prompt DJI to reconsider #1 and #2.
 
We know that, but if you participate in an act, any act, you should consider all consequences before you proceed.
Which OP is trying to critique someone about... after having precisely demonstrated his own total inability at doing so. The irony.

K
As such, Kevin and co have done quite a bit to achieve #3 and may very well prompt DJI to reconsider #1 and #2.

Yup. It shows both that if you try to implement security you should do it right, AND that there are legitimate reasons for lifting the restrictions that should be easier than they are now and until they are people will take their own measures to do so.
 
This has all the earmarks of a personal vendetta. My gut is telling me. I'm not inclined to participate one way or the other.
 
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This is slave speak. You've been institutionalized. I suppose 54 MPH is as fast as your vehicle has ever gone, always 100% honest on your tax returns, Santa/tooth fairy/easter bunny were all just "white lies" for the kids.
 
This is slave speak. You've been institutionalized. I suppose 54 MPH is as fast as your vehicle has ever gone, always 100% honest on your tax returns, Santa/tooth fairy/easter bunny were all just "white lies" for the kids.

Pretty much me to a T - other than that I inhaled and stuff.....and my vehicle definitely goes quicker than that, but I did not perform any mods to make it do so.

As with every other behavior, there is a line somewhere. I think "Coal Rollers" for example are irresponsible (modding truck so it blows 50X as much pollution)....but those who tweak and get 20 extra HP are not.

The problem with any "line" is that we each have different ones. Millions of people cheat 50% ot 80% on their taxes. You know what? That costs those of us who pay our a lot more.

Is insurance fraud OK....just little white lies against a big corporation? Not looking for any answer, but the common sense logic always applies. Your freedom somewhat ends when other humans are affected. If you are doing 75 or 80 on the Turnpike you are on one side of the line. If you are doing 90 and weaving in and out (by a few feet) of other traffic, you are on another.

It would seem pretty simple. As to hacking a drone...obviously the "excuse" that someone could weaponize is seems about as relevant as weaponizing a piece of PVC (those Potato Cannons can really toss a heavy object far)....

Assuming we are all a "community" just because we purchased and flew a piece of consumer electronics is probably the first mistake here. That word is overused IMHO.
 
I used to worry a lot about stuff. Then one day Fukushima melted down, and half a decade later its still releasing ionizing radioactive particles into the air and water, and so Obama changed allowable cancer deaths from water, from 1 in 10000, to 1 in 20. Now I don't worry so much about a lot of stuff. Thank-you and good day!
 
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