Australian Govco now banning DJI drones

[MAvic_South_Oz]

..
As we have seen in many threads here, with the US Govco banning DJI equipment use for their various departments, Australia seems to be following this . . .

DJI drones in wide use across government departments despite defence, Border Force bans

There has been a lot of noise in the media and parliament regarding fixed security cams made in China possible being able to 'spy' on fixed sensitive sites like Govco buildings / sites, and they were already being banned, or close to it, remove and replace with more secure cams.

Now it seems DJI drones are being removed / replaced in use for defence, police (state and federal), and possibly soon many other more innocuous depts.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

My hope is that after a few Political changes to come here in the US , that these bans will settle down everywhere else as well. What bothers me more than this Ban is that some of the biggest countries in the world are becoming afraid of there own shawdow as they continue to play the imaginary Eye Spy Game .

This reminds me of a friend of mine who moved to a bad part of town and saw someone at the window so he called the police , than before the police got there he saw them again at another window and this time as he was just about to shoot thu the window he realzied what he was seeing was his own reflection in the window. lol

Better times are coming , and the whole world will take a deep breath as these Bans are lifted sooner than latter.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Better times are coming , and the whole world will take a deep breath as these Bans are lifted sooner than latter.

I hope you're right on both counts !!
Somehow the World has gone from relatively stable to crazy in a handbasket in what seems like just a matter of a few years or so.

Would be great to see our police, emergency services etc have access to really what must be the most affordable and effective drones for what needs to be done in our communities.
If they are worried about anything else, just ensure no syncing is going on.

edit typo

 

[wienog]

My hope is that after a few Political changes to come here in the US , that these bans will settle down everywhere else as well. What bothers me more than this Ban is that some of the biggest countries in the world are becoming afraid of there own shawdow as they continue to play the imaginary Eye Spy Game .

This reminds me of a friend of mine who moved to a bad part of town and saw someone at the window so he called the police , than before the police got there he saw them again at another window and this time as he was just about to shoot thu the window he realzied what he was seeing was his own reflection in the window. lol

Better times are coming , and the whole world will take a deep breath as these Bans are lifted sooner than latter.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

Sorry , but its this kind of rhetoric that makes Europeans like me and no doubt other people around the world look at the US and think "What the heck happened to that wise and thoughtful country ?"

 

[Zbip57]

Can anyone point to an intelligent article posted anywhere that explains precisely what the actual threat is? I know that much earlier versions of the Fly app were allowed too many privileges to access details on your phone, but that's been cured. And I know that if you "sync" your flight logs to DJI, then China potentially has access to those. But, so what?

How exactly is National Security currently being threatened by DJI drones in a way that couldn't be equally threatened using any other drone, camera or cellphone? If you're relying on using your drone for military purposes, okay that might be a problem. But how is security being threatened when DJI drones are used by your fire department, police, or general public?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Its a simple as someone in the goverment is being paid to find Possible Black Holes in the Software that would allow for the top hackers in the world to come in thru a back door, and really that is all there is to it.

Apple did it to us , google did it to us and in the End it all comes thru the wash to get recyled again. If DJI was from the US it would not be a thing but a simple update most likely every other month.

Security Patches are something we negotiate every month from other companies , and the Goverment will have get use to that as well , but for now , its seems there scared to death of the Secrets there keeping.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.

 

[Zbip57]

Its as simple as someone in the government is being paid to find Possible Black Holes in the Software that would allow for the top hackers in the world to come in thru a back door, and really that is all there is to it.

So let's say there is a back door in DJI's "Software", and one of "the top hackers in the world" then takes over what? Takes control of your phone, your remote controller, your drone, your data, your videos? How? Precisely what does that accomplish? And why is this a threat limited only to DJI drones?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

The release of the DJI Air 3 aka is being released soon , this is a good example of a leak , other companies would have loved to have gotten the designs on this much sooner than latter.

if Autel would have been able to hack into the Software, they might have known what was coming and how to beat DJI to the same release date of something similar.

Now Scale that leak up to a new Rocket, new AI or new plan or Energy and other countries have the chance to get one step ahead.

Scale that up to plans for War Machines and Robots and where the Goverments Focus might be. , and its easier to see why they dont want anyone using a machine that can show on GPS or record video or audio these secrets.

Leaked picture , the only saving grace for DJI is that time is not an issue anymore but had it been leaked a year ago, this punch in the gut to Autel would not have been so great.



Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[Zbip57]

The release of the DJI Air 3 aka is being released soon , this is a good example of a leak , other companies would have loved to have gotten the designs on this much sooner than later.

You lost me there.

Are you saying DJI is good because they contained the "leak" of their new product until it was too late for other companies to profit from it, or are you say DJI is bad because they're leaky? I'm confused.

Now Scale that leak up to a new Rocket, new AI or new plan or Energy [...] up to plans for War Machines and Robots and where the Goverment's Focus might be. , and its easier to see why they don't want anyone using a machine that can show on GPS or record video or audio these secrets .

You mean machines like every common cellphone?

What is about DJI drones specifically (compared to any other drone) that's more of threat than the cellphones that nearly everyone already carries?

It's not as though only DJI drones are capable of being used to drop contraband into prisons or to take photos or videos of sensitive locations. The paranoia makes it sound as though DJI drones somehow silently take off at night while you're asleep to fly espionage sorties conducted remotely by China.

What exactly is the supposed threat and by what mechanism is this supposed to be happening?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I guess the best Example is Area 51 , there is no chance of anyone getting on base with a Cell phone and yet thousands of people and Goverment officials do try to get information and Imagine china would be part of that group as well as others. Thus any video tagged by them in the Area 51 area would be fair game to watch. . Again Scale that up to labs, reseach centers, Military areas such a Ukraine hideouts accientally located by drone footage posted or Not Posted. Having eyes is Power .

How many Goverments agents used a drone to caputre something of Importance , and by accident sent it to DJI video and Photos Album , lol. Why take the chance .

Yes DJI did an excellent job of keeping leaks of the Air 3 coming out to soon knowing that leaks cannot be stopped entirlely .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[Hauptmann]

Let's face it. PRC is probably already using DJI data to harvest intelligence on US, UK. AUS, and their other allies' defense-related assets. We all know that DJI essentially owns the multi-billion-dollar consumer, commercial and industrial drone market. We all know that PRC advanced aircraft and weapons systems are based on stolen Western designs. PRC is not the least bit intimidated by "protection" offered by patents.

Why don't we play the same game PRC is playing? DARPA could reverse-engineer DJI designs and encourage competitive drone manufacturing in the US?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

That type of brilliant thinking would require us to have new leadership that would not have shot down the China Balloon but taken good care of it and charged a Baby Sitting fee for our Enourmous efforts.

I think its coming after we get past the scarecrow and the laughing hyenia to come , than were on to smoother waters and will be stronger for it as we wil never sink this low again.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water.

 

[mavic3usa]

Yes I agree we probably won't be told what is known when it comes to DJI spying and leaks. You can't find the answers on a website or in a forum. I don't necessarily because it rising to this level but I'm sure there are some issues that need to be dealt with.

 

[Meta4]

Can anyone point to an intelligent article posted anywhere that explains precisely what the actual threat is?

No-one can, because there is none.
It's all uninformed paranoia.

How exactly is National Security currently being threatened by DJI drones in a way that couldn't be equally threatened using any other drone, camera or cellphone? If you're relying on using your drone for military purposes, okay that might be a problem. But how is security being threatened when DJI drones are used by your fire department, police, or general public?

It's not.
This video is long but worth watching to see actual police explaining how ridiculous these bans are, how there's no threat and how much the bans are costing.
It also throws some light on where these insidious myths come from.

 

[Zbip57]

I guess the best Example is Area 51 [...] any video tagged by them in the Area 51 area would be fair game to watch.

Explain how they would "tag" and "watch" such a video, unless someone publicly uploads it to YouTube.

And again, "someone" needs to be piloting this drone to take those photos or video while flying over Area 51. The drone isn't being clandestinely steered remotely from China. If someone is intent on taking such photos, couldn't they just as easily use any other drone, even a US-made Skydio drone?

What's so special about DJI drones that make them such a hysterical threat worth banning? They don't and can't transmit video back to China. They only transmit flight-log data if you choose to sync your data to their backup servers. Even then, that requires an internet connection. If you're that worried about security, just don't provide them with an internet connection.

I still don't understand what the specific threat is supposed to be. You should be much more worried about all the things that Google already knows and tracks about everything you do.

I get it that DJI is an economical threat because they currently own the consumer drone market. But someone, anyone, please explain by what mechanism they represent a security threat. Is there a credible article posted anywhere that explains the details?

 

[umanbean]

What is about DJI drones specifically (compared to any other drone) that's more of threat than the cellphones that nearly everyone already carries?

Right, exactly! At least 98.6% of people who carry a cell phone don't have the slightest inkling of all the information that's being farmed off of it. They just use the phone carelessly and profusely without any idea of the data and personal information they're inadvertently sharing with hundreds of corporate entities, and the gov if they wanted to.

 

[Hauptmann]

Few outside the intelligence community are qualified to judge the level of threat (if any) from the PRC gleaning data from DJI or other tech companies. In my unqualified opinion, the most they could get is accurate location of potential ICBM targets. They surely have this info anyway from their satellite flyovers, as the US does in the PRC and in other potential adversaries. I see little threat in this. The intelligence community may feel differently, but that's what we pay them for. But if our paranoid, headline-hungry politicians intend to ban DJI drones from domestic use, I'd like to see an alternative. So far, there ain't one.

 

[Zbip57]

In my unqualified opinion, the most they could get is accurate location of potential ICBM targets.

But how? I still don't get it.

It would require somebody deliberately flying their drone directly over such a target site to mark it's location as a waypoint, take photos and/or video, and then choose to transmit all of that by internet to China. If anyone is intent on doing this, couldn't they do it just as easily with any other non-DJI drone?

Can anybody give a rational explanation of how China is supposed to be surreptitiously accomplishing all that? And how is this more effectively done by China's DJI drone fleet compared to what's already freely available to everyone worldwide on Youtube, Facebook, Google maps, Google Satellite View, and Google Streetview?

 

[mavic3usa]

But how? I still don't get it.

It would require somebody deliberately flying their drone directly over such a target site to mark it's location as a waypoint, take photos and/or video, and then choose to transmit all of that by internet to China. If anyone is intent on doing this, couldn't they do it just as easily with any other non-DJI drone?

Can anybody give a rational explanation of how China is supposed to be surreptitiously accomplishing all that? And how is this more effectively done by China's DJI drone fleet compared to what's already freely available to everyone worldwide on Youtube, Facebook, Google maps, Google Satellite View, and Google Streetview?

Zbip, are you serious?

 

[mobilehomer]

Just a few things to ponder. How many people keep Auto Sync enabled? Location, media and date can be searched and tagged with algorithms. Non essential info is ignored. Military targets get attention. Just sayin'