China Hitting Back On Ban

[Deleted member 93449]

I don't know the limits of what could or couldn't be useful intelligence so at some point you have to trust the people that do to make the right decisions. While geofencing may prevent you from flying over certain airspace you don't necessarily have to fly over something to get video/photographs of it.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't mean there's a way to gain intel.

The Strava Heat Map Shows Even Militaries Can't Keep Secrets from Social Data

The US military is reexamining security policies after fitness tracker data shared on social media revealed bases and patrol routes

www.wired.com

Well OK - but while I can see that strategically, it may be of use to know when soldiers go out for a run, I really can't see how knowing when my Mavic is flying over what piece of countryside is going to affect the balance of world power? All it's going to tell you is that the weather is pretty much OK and wind speeds are low that day - which you could get from the on-line weather forecast. A video including a bus or train could give information regarding travel timetables I guess?? But hey - they are all on-line as well.
I know what you are telling us is important but in the light of there being no evidence that DJI collects data unless you cloud-sync your Go4 - keeping data that might be sensitive to yourself is easy and catered for in the product ...

An important question might be though - Why is it important for the US Government to make it difficult for the US DoI to collect data that might be useful in determining the effects of climate change?

 

[The Editor]

Because it's happened many times over. It's almost never the company being malicious, it's the Chinese government strong arming them into compliance once a trust is established. Did you bother reading past CYBER threats we've experienced in the links I posted above? The METADATA that UAS' collect is worth more than the UAS itself; think photos of critical infrastructure or even just WHERE flights are being conducted are valuable intel. They're not going to share how, what, or why it's a threat because then you're showing your hand to the players in a poker game. Catching on?

I’d love to know what a DJI UAV can capture and pass on to the Chinese that their own fleet of optical military reconnaissance satellites can’t capture in a far more covert way? Perhaps you could enlighten me?

Frankie Howard springs to mind....
”Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it In for me”

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I’d love to know what a DJI UAV can capture and pass on to the Chinese that their own fleet of optical military reconnaissance satellites can’t capture in a far more covert way? Perhaps you could enlighten me?

Frankie Howard springs to mind....
”Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it In for me”

Keep missing the point, it's not the photos or videos but the METADATA that has significant value; ways that we can't imagine or maybe already have but can't share. Then there's the potential for a CYBER attack through the DJI Go app, or an update; list goes on. The federal government doesn't have the resources to vet thousandths of lines of code for malicious intent; it's also easy to hide. This is the main reason so many IT things are unauthorized for federal gov use.

The gain does not outweighs the risks, its that simple.

 

[The Editor]

Keep missing the point, it's not the photos or videos but the METADATA that has significant value; ways that we can't imagine or maybe already have but can't share. Then there's the potential for a CYBER attack through the DJI Go app, or an update; list goes on. The federal government doesn't have the resources to vet thousandths of lines of code for malicious intent; it's also easy to hide. This is the main reason so many IT things are unauthorized for federal gov use.

The gain does not outweighs the risks, its that simple.

Ah yes - the metadata will tell them The GPS coordinates that we flew to get over a nice country park at 207ft agl and took some photos at 13:07GMT at 400th of a second at F4. .

And by Cyber attack, presumably you mean they will take control of all our UAV’s in the air and simultaneously smash them into a sensitive area/building and do some damage to the grass or smash a few windows.
The sky’s are falling!!!!!!

The real reason so many things are not ‘authorized’ for Federal Government use couldn’t possibly be to do with insufficient back handlers. Let’s not forget the fact that a hammer costs the government $400 because it’s a ‘special’ hammer that has been checked and cleared by the hammer department and the requisite hammer permits have been raised and authorised. It can’t be signed off by the screwdriver supervisor because his clearance doesn’t go as high as hammers - although he did try and order a mallet one time but got called in by the Head of Percussion Tools and nearly lost his job over it.

Do hammers collect metadata?

 

[FoxhallGH]

Do hammers collect metadata?

Nope - only Rust ... But rust never sleeps ...