Arkansas the Latest State to Implement DJI Drone Ban

[GFields]

The new law follows Florida’s sweeping ban of Chinese and Russian drones.​

DJI’s newly released Mavic 3 Pro may soon be banned by the FCC. [Credit: DJI]

A growing number of U.S. federal lawmakers are pushing for a total ban on drones made by China’s Da-Jiang Innovations, better known as DJI.

Already, the company’s drones have been blacklisted by the Department of Defense and the Department of Commerce, and House Republicans are now looking to add them to the Federal Communication Commission’s Covered List. They’ve been outright banned from use by the Florida government and law enforcement agencies. And now, another state has done the same.
A new piece of legislation passed in Arkansas will prevent public entities, like law enforcement agencies, from using drones manufactured by “covered foreign entities,” a list that includes only Russia and China—and by extension, DJI.

Continue reading here, Arkansas the Latest State to Implement DJI Drone Ban - FLYING Magazine

 

[Cafguy]

What? .........
“The possibility that DJI drones**** could **** be equipped to send live imagery of military installations, critical infrastructure, and the personal lives of American citizens to China poses too great a threat. Allowing this practice to ****continue ?!? - in the U.S. is playing with fire.

Ridiculous argument quoted in the story...
My Large Cola from Burger King Could Someday be used to deliver tiny Implants into the body allowing the Chinese to see live the location of every person in the U.S. Should Burger king make us go thirsty because of that possibility?

 

[Starz]

My take on Mr. Brit McKenzie with his statement that DJI is a “Chinese Military Company” is that he wouldn’t know the difference between a cherry pie and an apple pie.

 

[JeffreyS]

These are small brained individuals that simply lack the ability to understand and accept reality. Somehow they manage to get elected by like minded people and then believe that they are smart enough to create policy for everyone, based on their fears, religion and constituents. It's a shame. You can't fix stupid. It's permanent.

 

[Starz]

You can't fix stupid.

Interesting story about this. Years ago, probably 20 to 25, someone did something really stupid in front of me as I was driving somewhere. Whatever it was really got me going. I called a friend of mine that had a machine that could make bumper stickers. I had him make about 25 stickers that read”CAN’T FIX STUPED”. Purposely misspelled to add to the point. Some years later, a comedian named Ron White must have seen one of these stickers probably in the Phoenix area prior to one of his many visits to that area and added it into his material. It went across the country from that point. Too bad I didn’t have a copyright on that one!

 

[Greasy]

These are small brained individuals that simply lack the ability to understand and accept reality. Somehow they manage to get elected by like minded people and then believe that they are smart enough to create policy for everyone, based on their fears, religion and constituents. It's a shame. You can't fix stupid. It's permanent.

They don't think about what their Chinese made cell phone is transmitting while always being on and always being connected.

 

[Vic Moss]

If you're interested in fighting this type of legislation at the federal level (& soon the state level), join Drone Advocacy Alliance. This is exactly what we do.

Drone Advocacy Alliance - Home

Countless Americans fly drones for fun, for work, for research and to keep people safe. However, some in Congress and in state capitols across the nation have proposed legislation that threatens the way that we use drones and would restrict the market by cutting out some of the most popular...

droneadvocacyalliance.com

 

[ScottTX]

Has there been any movement on banning privately owned DJI drones ?

 

[Vic Moss]

Has there been any movement on banning privately owned DJI drones ?

Only at the FCC level, and that went nowhere.

At this point, that would be very unlikely.

 

[JimSteadman]

You have to wonder who is funding this anti-DJI initiative. DJI prices its drones reasonably and they are, by and large, high quality devices. Of course, if they are banned there are some American-made drones which will replace them - and likely of lower quality and considerably higher price. Remember the $700 toilet seats on military aircraft from decades ago? You ain't seen nothin' yet! The guvment will be glad to pay $5000 - $7000 for a drone that does not meet DJI standards and the maker will somehow be enabled to make generous political contributions. Stay tuned.

 

[Vic Moss]

You have to wonder who is funding this anti-DJI initiative. DJI prices its drones reasonably and they are, by and large, high quality devices. Of course, if they are banned there are some American-made drones which will replace them - and likely of lower quality and considerably higher price. Remember the $700 toilet seats on military aircraft from decades ago? You ain't seen nothin' yet! The guvment will be glad to pay $5000 - $7000 for a drone that does not meet DJI standards and the maker will somehow be enabled to make generous political contributions. Stay tuned.

Brinc, Skydio, and Teal drones all are doing this. Skydio is the most egregious. They just inked a deal to spend $12,500 per month Kasirer LLC, and NYC based lobbying firm. They will be working on putting a Chinese drone ban in place for all New York Public Agencies.

Read it for yourself.

 

[Capt KO]

Brinc, Skydio, and Teal drones all are doing this. Skydio is the most egregious. They just inked a deal to spend $12,500 per month Kasirer LLC, and NYC based lobbying firm. They will be working on putting a Chinese drone ban in place for all New York Public Agencies.

Read it for yourself.

Skydio helped write the Florida legislation banning foreign drones for all gov entities, made no secret about it. There were a lot of handshakes + when it was signed. Other states are copying it verbatim. Didn't take long for Skydio to drop consumer drones with gov contracts coming in overnight.

 

[Vic Moss]

Skydio helped write the Florida legislation banning foreign drones for all gov entities, made no secret about it. There were a lot of handshakes + when it was signed. Other states are copying it verbatim. Didn't take long for Skydio to drop consumer drones with gov contracts coming in overnight.

Yep. Skydio is NOT a friend of the US Drone Industry. They want to destroy DJI and Autel and don't care about the 95%+ of drone owners who are hurt by Skydio's actions.

No one should ever support Skydio!

 

[Capt KO]

Yep. Skydio is NOT a friend of the US Drone Industry. They want to destroy DJI and Autel and don't care about the 95%+ of drone owners who are hurt by Skydio's actions.

No one should ever support Skydio!

The new users of these US made drones are already complaining, Loudly. They don't compare to DJI in quality, capability, longevity, and price. The ignorance of these gov officials an affront to common sense, and just plain scary. Not worried about China as much as Big Brother.

 

[JeffreyS]

Certainly you can't expect government officials to understand anything technical, scientific, complex, or logical. If they were able to think that way, they would have been able to find jobs in the private sector, where real science, research and innovation prevail.

 

[EssenYVR]

It should be said that DJI, like all Chinese companies, is a captive of the Chinese Communist Party. If the CCP decides they want to do something to DJI's products, DJI has no choice but to comply. So I think there is a valid reason to be cautious. As an example, I think everyone understands why Chinese equipment is banned from the nation's Internet infrastructure. The data mining and eavesdropping potential, not to mention that of disruption of critical services, is too huge to ignore.

How much of a threat drones could potentially pose is an open question, but I understand the inclination toward caution. The good news is that as long as this is just a government procurement ban it shouldn't affect the rest of us.

 

[Vic Moss]

It should be said that DJI, like all Chinese companies, is a captive of the Chinese Communist Party. If the CCP decides they want to do something to DJI's products, DJI has no choice but to comply.

And what exactly would the CCP get if they did require DJI to give them info? All they get are flight logs (if you opt-in) and maybe a thumbnail.

So I think there is a valid reason to be cautious. As an example, I think everyone understands why Chinese equipment is banned from the nation's Internet infrastructure. The data mining and eavesdropping potential, not to mention that of disruption of critical services, is too huge to ignore.

Again, there is no true threat due to the fact that DJI doesn't get any info.

How much of a threat drones could potentially pose is an open question, but I understand the inclination toward caution. The good news is that as long as this is just a government procurement ban it shouldn't affect the rest of us.

Also wrong. It's already affecting many people in this business. Private companies are already forbidding DJI gear from being used on their projects. I've lost at least one job, and had to scramble to get a blue drone for a shoot for the NPS. And it wasn't even a security concern where I was flying for them. It was because of the asinine DOI ban against non-blue drones.

It's beyond stupid that this is even a discussion. There is ZERO proof anything of value has ever been sent to China via DJI drones, and there are even many studies (including from the DOD and DOI) that prove it's not an issue.

This is becoming a tiring argument. It's baseless and pure politics.

 

[EssenYVR]

And what exactly would the CCP get if they did require DJI to give them info? All they get are flight logs (if you opt-in) and maybe a thumbnail.

Well I did say that the threat potential was an open question.

Drones are flying radio stations with cameras and Internet connectivity, I don't think it's too outrageous to imagine that an enemy who could take them over might be able to wreak some mischief. Surveillance drones have been absolutely crucial on both sides of the Ukrainian conflict.

Of course it would be hard for China to take over drones overtly for very long before it became obvious what was going on. It would have to be a kind of one-shot surprise move on their part, which puts some pretty stringent limits on its effectiveness. Subversive data collection might be harder to spot, though. Or maybe some sort of wider hacking attack that used drones as access points. I'm just brainstorming, the kinds of people who might actually do this stuff are probably a lot more creative than me.

Again, I'm not trying to say that the sky is falling here, I'm just saying that I can understand why lawmakers are cautious. Sure, much of it is politics, but there's I think there's a plausible story they can tell to convince their voters that it's a reasonable course of action.

Banning drones is probably at the low end of the scale of stupid laws that were enacted on the basis of questionable logic. You can rail against it, but you're probably not going to be able to stop it.

 

[Vic Moss]

Well I did say that the threat potential was an open question.

Writing incredibly restrictive regulations based on "potential" is asinine. And the ones pushing it are ignorant of the realities of what we do and what our drones are capable of.

Drones are flying radio stations with cameras and Internet connectivity,

Nope. I fly without any internet, and there is no radio broadcast at all. That doesn't make sense.

I don't think it's too outrageous to imagine that an enemy who could take them over might be able to wreak some mischief.

Nope, again. If it's not connected to the internet, there is literally no way for them to take it over. At all.

Surveillance drones have been absolutely crucial on both sides of the Ukrainian conflict.

Of course it would be hard for China to take over drones overtly for very long before it became obvious what was going on. It would have to be a kind of one-shot surprise move on their part, which puts some pretty stringent limits on its effectiveness. Subversive data collection might be harder to spot, though. Or maybe some sort of wider hacking attack that used drones as access points. I'm just brainstorming, the kinds of people who might actually do this stuff are probably a lot more creative than me.

Again, I'm not trying to say that the sky is falling here, I'm just saying that I can understand why lawmakers are cautious.

Lawmakers are cautious because the likes of Skydio, BRINC, and Teal are paying lobbyists to spread lies.

Sure, much of it is politics, but there's I think there's a plausible story they can tell to convince their voters that it's a reasonable course of action.

Again, nope. Absolutely zero evidence exists. Not "much", but "all" politics.

Banning drones is probably at the low end of the scale of stupid laws that were enacted on the basis of questionable logic. You can rail against it, but you're probably not going to be able to stop it.

I'll do everything in my power to stop it. Because it will reek havoc with my industry.

 

[mobilehomer]

and there is no radio broadcast at all.

Isn't that exactly how Radio Control works?