China Week DJI ban

[Capt KO]

9/10/24 during China Week US passes ban on new DJI drone use and sales in US. Senate approval required still but paranoia by our elected officials runs deep.
New DJI drones to be banned in the US

 

[GFields]

IMHO this is entirely unconstitutional. US is shooting itself in the foot.

 

[msinger]

"One small saving grace for DJI in the US is that the legislation may not be passed until after the US Presidential election in November."

Phew... what a relief!

 

[tstr14]

This is OLD NEWS being used to stir up headlines on a slow day. As the story says, it was passed by the House but still needs to ratified by the Senate.

Nothing to see here, move along, move along.

 

[mavic3usa]

Yesterday, see what Stefanik (and a few of her colleagues) has to say directly about her drone bill. At the 2:29:29 mark, you can watch her <5min speech and hear her points one by one straight from her mouth. And for related info, you can watch thru about 2:40.

House Session

The House considered several bills under suspension of the rules, including a measure to combat U.S. national security threats from China. Members paid tribute to and observed a moment of silence for the late Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NF), who died on August 21, 2024.

www.c-span.org

 

[Capt KO]

"One small saving grace for DJI in the US is that the legislation may not be passed until after the US Presidential election in November."

Phew... what a relief!

Sales should jump when the election gets close. Still pray that rational heads prevail, seems so idiotic especially with new technology..violators are getting caught, Fast. Let that sink in before killing the goose.

 

[Prop Wash]

This was to pass an amended version. Don't know if this was sent back from the Senate for amending or if they thought amending it would get it passed.

 

[anotherlab]

This was to pass an amended version. Don't know if this was sent back from the Senate for amending or if they thought amending it would get it passed.

It goes to the Senate next.

 

[mavic3usa]

This was to pass an amended version. Don't know if this was sent back from the Senate for amending or if they thought amending it would get it passed.

It goes to the Senate next.

If the Senate signs this (which they will) then the last step is for the President to sign it (and he/she will).

That's all there is left; we've basically reached the end of the legislative process. All that would remain at that point is the government to have it's way with the People given a blank check to act and the People will have zero effective input at that point.

The only recourse would be to throw this into the judicial process and file some type of injunction or challenge it in the courts which could take years. I think the People do better in the judicial fight rather than in the legislative or executive process so this won't be the end of it, that's for sure.

If there is a miracle and this doesn't become law, the drone community should understand that we were just days away from a ban and this isn't going to be the last we hear about this; your drone will be pursued for years and years until they are banned so technically, it's just a matter of time. The damage to the drone community has already started; no industry thrives when the government is trying to ban it. Much of the damage hasn't yet been realized or felt but I've covered this in other threads in other posts already.

 

[dmanthree]

I asked about this a while ago, and was told there's nothing to worry about. Simple question: if this becomes law will our drones still be able to fly?

 

[msinger]

Simple question: if this becomes law will our drones still be able to fly?

It depends. How will the yet to be passed law physically prevent your drone from flying?

I guess there are no wrong answers here since such a law does not exist.

 

[mavic3usa]

I asked about this a while ago, and was told there's nothing to worry about. Simple question: if this becomes law will our drones still be able to fly?

My opinion is however this goes down, there is no mechanism in place that would be trigger a situation where your drone won't lift off. However, should the legislation pass and sign into law, we just don't know what happens at that point. Odds are everything you have in your possession will be fine but like any government or any government laws, this is only the beginning and there's more [bad] things to come. Many people have said and I paraphrase "If these drones are spying, why does the legislation allow you to keep flying older drone?" Well, they just might look into that later; count chickens. There's no way they're going to try to heap confiscation into the first bill; that comes later after you get your foot in the door. They already have a "confiscation" database in place so there's that.

 

[msinger]

"If these drones are spying, why does the legislation allow you to keep flying older drone?"

If it passes, the answer to this question will tell us if this is really about security or money. I suspect the latter.

 

[dmanthree]

It depends. How will the yet to be passed law physically prevent your drone from flying?

I guess there are no wrong answers here since such a law does not exist.

If DJI drones are prevented from using the USA's communication structure, how will that impact them?

 

[mavic3usa]

If DJI drones are prevented from using the USA's communication structure, how will that impact them?

Alot of the damage is already done. Many many people believe DJI drones are already banned mostly because there are state/local agencies that have a ban in place and there's a Federal ban but not a ban on the citizens. The people don't care, basically they believe DJI drones are banned.

And just about everybody believes to some extent DJI drones are spying on us *OR* DJI drones have the capability to spy on us on command in the future should they receive orders from teh CCP...just because the government says so.

If you fly a DJI drone and you don't think there are spectators or bystanders or others who don't agree with what you are doing then you should become aware of the situation that is fluid and bound to change over the coming years.

 

[dmanthree]

Alot of the damage is already done. Many many people believe DJI drones are already banned mostly because there are state/local agencies that have a ban in place and there's a Federal ban but not a ban on the citizens. The people don't care, basically they believe DJI drones are banned.

And just about everybody believes to some extent DJI drones are spying on us *OR* DJI drones have the capability to spy on us on command in the future should they receive orders from teh CCP...just because the government says so.

If you fly a DJI drone and you don't think there are spectators or bystanders or others who don't agree with what you are doing then you should become aware of the situation that is fluid and bound to change over the coming years.

OK, but my question was "how will preventing drones from using the USA's communication infrastructure impact their ability to fly?"

I know that irrational paranoia exists and that has given rise to this badly misguided piece of legislation. I'm just not clear that if it passes, is my drone a doorstop?

 

[mavic3usa]

OK, but my question was "how will preventing drones from using the USA's communication infrastructure impact their ability to fly?"

I know that irrational paranoia exists and that has given rise to this badly misguided piece of legislation. I'm just not clear that if it passes, is my drone a doorstop?

Highly unlikely your drone will become a doorstop. Every piece of legislation I see refers to *future* DJI drone so it sounds like for now, *past* DJI drones are going to be ok.

What I meant by my previous comments are don't expect that to be the case forever. But for now, since there isn't anything in the system that I am aware of that can easily trigger a physical mechanism to prevent your drone from taking off, the only option to accomplish similar would be some sort of government declaration or statement and the implementation would depend on the pilot obeying the law. For example, a nationwide indefinite TFR on all DJI drones. Or a suspension of all FAA database DJI registrations to start with.

None of this is planned to my knowledge so I wouldn't worry about it for now since we should get plenty of notice should this ever come to light. I can assure you it's on their mind but that's a big step and if they are looking for a way to activate the people, this would do it.

 

[StevenBrodsky]

I asked about this a while ago, and was told there's nothing to worry about. Simple question: if this becomes law will our drones still be able to fly?

Yes. All hobbyists and commercial (nongovernmental service providers) will still be able to use DJI drones purchased before the ban. I hope they get the Mavic 4 in production and selling in the usa before this thing is ratified. You still get to keep them and use them.

 

[msinger]

If DJI drones are prevented from using the USA's communication structure, how will that impact them?

Can you explain how existing DJI drones could be prevented from using the USA's communication structure?

This is out of my wheelhouse.

 

[mavic3usa]

Did the Chinese put a satellite in orbit that, in part, could be used to direct DJI military drones to carry out nefarious activities in the future? Ordinary people like us....we don't know for sure. Those in the US government who do know, pretty sure they're not going to publish their "findings" for everyone in public to judge it and let the Chinese know they've been "discovered." The government needs to be transparent but I understand there are some things that just can't be shared and this may be one of them.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/12/science/china-space-plane-intl-hnk/index.html