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

[anotherlab]

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

Who is "they"? If you mean the House and the Senate, they don't need to get support for the sanctions. There already is bipartisan support for the DJI sanctions in both chambers. It's not a done deal until it gets signed by the President, but I have yet to see real pushback from any senator or representative.

It's a mixture of fear and protecting the US market. China didn't help the situation with its spy balloons.

When they applied the same sort of sanctions to Huawei a couple of years ago, they didn't prove Huawei was spying on Americans. Logic and facts did not stop that bill from going into law. As a side note, no company was forced to remove their existing Huawei equipment. Had there been a real security threat, the existing equipment would have had to be removed.

 

[mavic3usa]

Who is "they"? If you mean the House and the Senate, they don't need to get support for the sanctions. There already is bipartisan support for the DJI sanctions in both chambers. It's not a done deal until it gets signed by the President, but I have yet to see real pushback from any senator or representative.

It's a mixture of fear and protecting the US market. China didn't help the situation with its spy balloons.

When they applied the same sort of sanctions to Huawei a couple of years ago, they didn't prove Huawei was spying on Americans. Logic and facts did not stop that bill from going into law. As a side note, no company was forced to remove their existing Huawei equipment. Had there been a real security threat, the existing equipment would have had to be removed.

This should accurately describe the actions being taken so far:

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/many-us-telecom-firms-need-more-funding-replace-huawei-zte-equipment-fcc-says-2024-05-02/

 

[TonyPHX]

Skydio. Plain and simple.

 

[Wreckhunter]

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

Yup ,that is what they are saying,this is just turning into a DJI hate thing and nothing else.

 

[Wreckhunter]

Skydio. Plain and simple.

I think they have something to do with it.Too bad,well maybe not really they will never be able to compete with DJI and their technology.
In other words DJI has forgotten more in the Tech.department than Skydio will ever know.

 

[Ms Ivy]

looks like Autel is on there too

 

[JimSteadman]

Sooo... when will they write and pass the Countering CCP Phones act? Since virtually all our phones are made in China and they actually do know our faces or fingerprints as well as every website we visit, every call we make and where we are all the time, what we spend our money for, what we believe and what we do about it, how much money we have and what we spend it on. They also know how to influence our elections. All these congressional idiots conveniently overlook this. Oh, and the fact that Google Maps already has clear photos of virtually every part of the USA. The CCP isn't learning much from all our drone activity. Fear sells. Gin it up and folks will react to the fear they engender (and donate to their campaign coffers).

 

[Crash Pro]

High time to start suing politicians for outright lying. Getting really sick of this crap!

 

[AeroJ]

In this country at least, but I think probably elsewhere too, we are now at the default position of not being able to believe a single word any of these people say. They have lied too habitually, for too long, and made it abundantly clear that their own interests are their priority, and that they will (mostly unaccountably) say almost anything to the public in order to advance them. It's a very sorry state of affairs when politicians are so universally distrusted, and it's very difficult to see how any hope for reason and rationality can prevail in this sort of toxic, corrupt, self-interested climate that seems to apply to so many in charge of setting our rules and (further) curtailing our freedoms.

 

[Cafguy]

High time to start suing politicians for outright lying.

How many lawyers and courthouses do you think exist here in the U.S.?

 

[Droning on and on...]

It’s still unbelievable that the drones could be doing this while turned off.

Only if you believe "the system" means the drone. It may be, but then it may not.

Do you have additional information that hasn't been shared here?

I don't opine that the elected Reps are knowledgeable about this at all. But they're referring to classified work product of the Intel community, and I do trust that they are subject matter experts. Whoever in the NSA/CIA/DIA universe is looking at this stuff know drones and DJI equipment better than any of us.

So until I have the details, presently classified, I'm not so willing to assert these experts generating the Intel are a bunch of technical morons.

But yeah, a session bashing our politicians as a bunch of lying idiots is always good fun.

 

[Cafguy]

It is possible for any electronic device to eavesdrop. IF it is programmed that way. Right Alexa?
The thing is What Does the government think the CCP is gaining by listening to my 24hrs of Columbo re-runs, rants about PG&E, and the occasional curse word when I forget to remove my props before working on one of my Drones. I am interested to know how this information threatens our very way of life.
Until then I will keep my Drone chained inside its soundproof metal enclosure!

 

[Robert Prior]

I don't opine that the elected Reps are knowledgeable about this at all. But they're referring to classified work product of the Intel community, and I do trust that they are subject matter experts.

I'll be honest, I've had a harder time trusting American intelligence sources since Bush et al insisted that they had evidence that Iraq had WMDs when in fact they didn't have evidence of that.

I used to know someone in the intelligence community, and after 9/11 he said one of the hardest things to do was stand by while politicians made claims that they could prove weren't true, but only by breaking security. I'm also old enough to remember the Valerie Plame affair.

 

[MS Coast]

I'll be honest, I've had a harder time trusting American intelligence sources since Bush et al insisted that they had evidence that Iraq had WMDs when in fact they didn't have evidence of that.

I used to know someone in the intelligence community, and after 9/11 he said one of the hardest things to do was stand by while politicians made claims that they could prove weren't true, but only by breaking security. I'm also old enough to remember the Valerie Plame affair.

That wasn't the intelligence services who had things wrong. It was George Bush, **** Cheney, and Colin Powell who made the bogus claims.

 

[anotherlab]

Only if you believe "the system" means the drone. It may be, but then it may not.

Do you have additional information that hasn't been shared here?

I don't opine that the elected Reps are knowledgeable about this at all. But they're referring to classified work product of the Intel community, and I do trust that they are subject matter experts. Whoever in the NSA/CIA/DIA universe is looking at this stuff know drones and DJI equipment better than any of us.

So until I have the details, presently classified, I'm not so willing to assert these experts generating the Intel are a bunch of technical morons.

But yeah, a session bashing our politicians as a bunch of lying idiots is always good fun.

The details were a document that was in the link that was posted. The facial recognition claims were aimed at the apps, not the hardware.

 

[Chip]

So until I have the details, presently classified, I'm not so willing to assert these experts generating the Intel are a bunch of technical morons.

But yeah, a session bashing our politicians as a bunch of lying idiots is always good fun.

The level of vitriolic hatred and rage directed to the government in all of these threads is truly shocking. I love my Mavic too but good grief not like a spouse or a child.

 

[franklinskite]

The level of vitriolic hatred and rage directed to the government in all of these threads is truly shocking. I love my Mavic too but good grief not like a spouse or a child.

We live in a country where we are free to direct our rage, dislike and vitriol at our government. And we have good fun doing it, often for good cause. I’ve met many others who don’t have this freedom.

 

[mavic3usa]

The level of vitriolic hatred and rage directed to the government in all of these threads is truly shocking. I love my Mavic too but good grief not like a spouse or a child.

We live in a country where we are free to direct our rage, dislike and vitriol at our government. And we have good fun doing it, often for good cause. I’ve met many others who don’t have this freedom.

Agreed and it's not just the drone, it's everything. Collectively, the bigger picture....and it's starting to take a toll. I believe we have a right to redress our government even if it gets ugly and I know they are not perfect but the problem comes with the lies and the dishonesty and the intentional deception and the indifference is a big factor.

 

[franklinskite]

Agreed and it's not just the drone, it's everything. Collectively, the bigger picture....and it's starting to take a toll. I believe we have a right to redress our government even if it gets ugly and I know they are not perfect but the problem comes with the lies and the dishonesty and the intentional deception and the indifference is a big factor.

Right. This isn't only about our little drones. It's about high tech, politics, free trade and any number of things. What's really getting the goat of many here is that much of this proposed policy isn't sound, isn't rooted in reality, and the supposed reason(s) for this bad policy is national security, which has been made secretive, so we can't even intelligently debate the issue(s).

America is not a government that controls or owns a people. It's a people that owns a government. It's time we demand OUR government stop this crap. If they have a real complaint, put it on the table for all to see so that we can have a real debate on real facts. So that the best ideas win in the marketplace of free ideas. That's what's supposed to happen in a republican democracy and a free society.

 

[MS Coast]

I can't help but wonder if each of the people who are unhappy with H.R.2864 have written and called their Representative and both their Senators.