Congress members warn that DJI drones 'register facial recognition data even when the system is off, and upload information to cloud storage'

[franklinskite]

In a letter written to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, House Committee on Homeland Security Chair Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) and House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to declassify certain information pertaining to the national security threats posed by DJI drones. They write, 'Further, the bulletin warned that DJI-established applications, when used with their UAS hardware, collect GPS locations and photographs taken by the device, register facial recognition data even when the system is off, and upload information to cloud storage located in Taiwan and Hong Kong, to which our foremost adversary, the Chinese Communist Party, almost certainly has access.'

Are they serious? Are they saying that my Mavic 2, which I store in its case, without its battery, still collects data and talks to the mothership?

https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-06-18-Green-Rodgers-to-CISA-DOE-re-PRC-Made-Drones.pdf

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

If it weren't so sad it would be comical.
I wonder what the range of a non zooming DJI camera is with regards to being able to identify someone's face.
Photos are included in the logs when photos have been taken but I have never checked how many nor their size.

 

[Prop Wash]

"register facial recognition data even when the system is off, and upload information to cloud storage." Talk about being gullible...sheesh. Like the OP, my Mini 2, when not called to active duty, is kept in the case it came in, without a battery in it. There is no way for it to send info anywhere, let alone recognize anyone's face from in there. I better take the battery out of my chinese-built toothbrush. I don't want China to know how often I brush my teeth.

 

[AeroJ]

What was it the late great Christopher Hitchens said ? Oh yes. 'That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence'.

 

[franklinskite]

What was it the late great Christopher Hitchens said ? Oh yes. 'That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence'.

Then there's my favorite:

Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

- attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte

 

[Wreckhunter]

Sounds like absolute horseshit to me ! Presumably the people who claim that will be able to demonstrate it happening, and will have provided a video that shows the rest of us ? Oh wait, they HAVEN'T done that ?! Pffffff.

These people have nothing else to do ,so they sit at their desks and fabricate more false claims.Then get together and agree on it.It really is comical.

 

[AeroJ]

Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

Quality quote as it is, I'm not sure that one applies here ! I think there's good deal of malice going on ! Looks like some deliberate intent to deceive ! In this case we can only hope incompetence can come along and save the day !

 

[franklinskite]

Quality quote as it is, I'm not sure that one applies here ! I think there's good deal of malice going on ! Looks like some deliberate intent to deceive ! In this case we can only hope incompetence can come along and save the day !

Yes, there's certainly both incompetence and a touch of maliciousness on view. But there's also a sizable portion of good ol' fashioned capitalist daring-do and legislative campaIgn donation seeking involved. Charles Dickens wrote about this best, in the 1850s.

It's right of of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, whose protagonist launches a scheme to gain a monopoly selling muffins by getting Parliament to ban all other muffin manufacturers. I suggest everyone read the playbook straight out of Dickens. Substitute the word 'drone' for 'muffin':

"In order to obtain Parliamentary support and attract shareholders, Nickleby and his retinue rely on the comforting connotations of muffins themselves: “Why the very name (United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking Company) will get the shares up to a premium in ten days." This company, argues accomplice Sir Matthew Pupker, is vital to “the wealth, the happiness, the comfort, the liberty, the very existence of a free and great people”—in other words, muffins form the cornerstone of everything great about Britain, and this greatness must be maintained through corporate regulation.

To validate the company, Nickleby and co. describe the present degeneracy of the muffin industry: the “whole Muffin system,” according to Mr. Bonney, is “alike prejudicial to the health and morals of the people, and subversive to the best interests of a great commercial and mercantile community." Bonney goes on to claim that, in its present manifestation, the muffin industry is an “inhuman and barbarous system."

The United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking Company would reform the industry, outlawing all private muffin selling. Ostensibly in the name of better working conditions for the muffin sellers, the plan’s true intent is, of course, to serve as a cash cow for its creators."

 

[Droning on and on...]

Well, FWIW I'm not so ready to completely write off the Congresscritters as buffoons based on that statement.

While I don't think there is anything to this, I can't draw that conclusion from the paragraph in the OP. I don't know what they're referring to as, "the system", and apparently there's some classified Intel about this that was put together by the Intel community, not the Reps. They've been shown classified information that's causing them to believe something nefarious is going on.

Like I said, I'm highly skeptical. But there's a lot I don't know. The statements above are deliberately general and abstract, because the Intel has not been declassified. The pols apparently are trying to get it declassified to make their case.

It's rather surprising that so many here, with no clearance or access to anything that's driving this issue, are so sure about what they don't know.

 

[franklinskite]

Well, FWIW I'm not so ready to completely write off the Congresscritters as buffoons based on that statement.

While I don't think there is anything to this, I can't draw that conclusion from the paragraph in the OP. I don't know what they're referring to as, "the system", and apparently there's some classified Intel about this that was put together by the Intel community, not the Reps. They've been shown classified information that's causing them to believe something nefarious is going on.

Like I said, I'm highly skeptical. But there's a lot I don't know. The statements above are deliberately general and abstract, because the Intel has not been declassified. The pols apparently are trying to get it declassified to make their case.

It's rather surprising that so many here, with no clearance or access to anything that's driving this issue, are so sure about what they don't know.

Right. So let’s have the facts.

 

[mavic3usa]

I've seen a letter from a US Senator that says the Chinese are sending balloons over America to spy on us and they still continue to do it as of today. How anyone could think that a Senator would allow Chinese drones to fly in US airspace but work overtime trying to defeat the balloons....at this point, there is absolutely nothing that will change her mind.

 

[AeroJ]

Oh, the tried and trusted 'The evidence is classified' line. How terribly convenient...

 

[Felix le Chat]

In a letter written to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, House Committee on Homeland Security Chair Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) and House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to declassify certain information pertaining to the national security threats posed by DJI drones. They write, 'Further, the bulletin warned that DJI-established applications, when used with their UAS hardware, collect GPS locations and photographs taken by the device, register facial recognition data even when the system is off, and upload information to cloud storage located in Taiwan and Hong Kong, to which our foremost adversary, the Chinese Communist Party, almost certainly has access.'

Are they serious? Are they saying that my Mavic 2, which I store in its case, without its battery, still collects data and talks to the mothership?

https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-06-18-Green-Rodgers-to-CISA-DOE-re-PRC-Made-Drones.pdf

Sounds more like a statement based on a wish-list for 'domestic' civil surveillance drones. I know the conniving chinless wonders this side of the Pond exist in an alternative universe to the rest of the population, but I genuinely shake my head in disbelief when I read that someone in an elected position of authority distributes statements like this and doesn't end up losing their job.

 

[franklinskite]

Sounds more like a statement based on a wish-list for 'domestic' civil surveillance drones. I know the conniving chinless wonders this side of the Pond exist in an alternative universe to the rest of the population, but I genuinely shake my head in disbelief when I read that someone in an elected position of authority distributes statements like this and doesn't end up losing their job.

‘I genuinely shake my head in disbelief when I read that someone in an elected position of authority distributes statements like this and doesn't end up losing their job.‘

Losing one’s job in the U.S. Congress for blowing hot air and lying for the party line and in order to receive political donations? That’s the job description.

 

[franklinskite]

The letter above references a 2017 bulletin from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which first makes this claim that dji drones ‘register facial recognition data even when the system is off, and upload information to cloud storage.’

In the late 2010s everyone including Facebook was using face recognition. If it turns out that dji had facial recognition secretly deployed in its drones back then that would be a hell of a charge in 2024. But we need the facts. What are they talking about? It’s still unbelievable that the drones could be doing this while turned off.

Most of us want to keep an open mind. Particularly when people are making vague national security claims. But at some point reasonable people also have to call bs.

 

[MS Coast]

Does anyone see a pattern here?

H.R.6572 - Countering CCP Drones Act

Introduced by Rep. Stefanik, Elise M. [R-NY-21]
Cosponsors:

Rep. Gallagher, Mike [R-WI-8]*
Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-22]*
Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]
Rep. Cole, Tom [R-OK-4]
Rep. Bice, Stephanie I. [R-OK-5]

Drone facial recognition concerns:
Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)

EDIT for complete list of cosponsors of H.R.6572

R Stefanik, Elise [R-NY21]	Primary Sponsor
R Guthrie, Brett [R-KY2]	May 6, 2024	Energy and Commerce
R Gallagher, Mike [R-WI8]	Original Cosponsor; No Longer Serving
R Mills, Cory [R-FL7]	Sep 21, 2023
R Guest, Michael [R-MS3]	Nov 8, 2023
R Moolenaar, John [R-MI2]	Feb 7, 2024
R Williams, Brandon [R-NY22]	Feb 14, 2024
D Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL8]	Mar 19, 2024
R Boebert, Lauren [R-CO3]	Apr 9, 2024
R Cole, Tom [R-OK4]	Apr 9, 2024
R Mast, Brian [R-FL21]	Apr 9, 2024
R Rose, John W. [R-TN6]	Apr 9, 2024
R Lawler, Michael [R-NY17]	Apr 10, 2024
R Higgins, Clay [R-LA3]	Apr 11, 2024
R Hinson, Ashley [R-IA2]	Apr 11, 2024
R Alford, Mark [R-MO4]

 

[Cafguy]

It will only get worse NOT better.
O.K. Lets all cave to the Madness and just go ahead and believe that our Drones do what they say they do. Scary- BUT where is the Danger If my Drone recognizes my face?. How will that help China rule the world? Will revealing my credit rating to the world allow China to invade the U.S. and Why are we making an enemy out of China when there is a huge elephant in the room in the first place. It seems SKYDIO has gone from hiring lobbyist to hiring Science Fiction Writers. Whats next...While I sleep my Drone replays speeches from XI JINPING and attempts to indoctrinate me into the CCP?
I am starting to think that the money I paid for my Drone got me a miraculous piece of technology that can do anything IT wants to. what a deal!!!!

 

[anotherlab]

Does anyone see a pattern here?

H.R.6572 - Countering CCP Drones Act

Introduced by Rep. Stefanik, Elise M. [R-NY-21]
Cosponsors:

Rep. Gallagher, Mike [R-WI-8]*
Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-22]*
Rep. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]
Rep. Cole, Tom [R-OK-4]
Rep. Bice, Stephanie I. [R-OK-5]

Drone facial recognition concerns:
Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)

The only pattern I see is that they are in the majority party of the House and would be the ones to get a bill to the floor.

 

[MS Coast]

The only pattern I see is that they are in the majority party of the House and would be the ones to get a bill to the floor.

Not how it works. Both parties can introduce bills. Any House member can cosponsor a bill.

 

[eaglesurfing]

They are working off of the fear factor. If they really want to get support then prove it.