DJI issues urgent warning: 6 months until possible ban

[mavic3usa]

You'd think all the law enforcement departments which use DJI drones would try to lobby against bans.

They already know how to become the exception to the ban; the ban would be for the rest of us.

 

[wco81]

They already know how to become the exception to the ban; the ban would be for the rest of us.

Would DJI bother to try to export only for LE agencies? That would be a fraction of the volume they ship now, so maybe not worth the hassle.

The EO says no federal agencies can buy Chinese drones. But states and local governments aren't covered by the ban?

 

[tstr14]

Would DJI bother to try to export only for LE agencies? That would be a fraction of the volume they ship now, so maybe not worth the hassle.

The EO says no federal agencies can buy Chinese drones. But states and local governments aren't covered by the ban?

Do you have any hard numbers to back that up? In my location, we have local police, a sheriff's department, state police, Federal agencies of the FBI, ATF and US marshals. Then there's the township government, many of which are looking at drones for code enforcement and fire department. We also have National Guard in the state. There are 1,773 "municipalities" in the state. That seems like quite a market to me.

 

[mavic3usa]

Would DJI bother to try to export only for LE agencies? That would be a fraction of the volume they ship now, so maybe not worth the hassle.

The EO says no federal agencies can buy Chinese drones. But states and local governments aren't covered by the ban?

I can only go by what I see in the open today since I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The M4P is a no-go in the US but the M400 at twice+ the price is a go?

I'm not sure if an EO directly impacts more than just federal agencies but I do know many state and local agencies have and can find a way to continue to use DJI drones if they wanted to since there are always exceptions. Usually it in the form of grandfathering or costs or maybe the rules don't go into effect for another few years. Today we have private citizens donating drones to government agencies, is that allowed?

 

[wco81]

Do you have any hard numbers to back that up? In my location, we have local police, a sheriff's department, state police, Federal agencies of the FBI, ATF and US marshals. Then there's the township government, many of which are looking at drones for code enforcement and fire department. We also have National Guard in the state. There are 1,773 "municipalities" in the state. That seems like quite a market to me.

Maybe it's "big enough" for DJI to bother but it still is dwarfed by the consumer market.

 

[wco81]

I can only go by what I see in the open today since I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The M4P is a no-go in the US but the M400 at twice+ the price is a go?

I'm not sure if an EO directly impacts more than just federal agencies but I do know many state and local agencies have and can find a way to continue to use DJI drones if they wanted to since there are always exceptions. Usually it in the form of grandfathering or costs or maybe the rules don't go into effect for another few years. Today we have private citizens donating drones to government agencies, is that allowed?

If the rationale is that you don't want Chinese drones secretly phoning home with data over sensitive assets in the US, just banning federal agencies from using them isn't going to protect national security.

If that really is the reason they'd ban them.

Because local police departments using them all over the country would have the same effect, capture a lot of detailed data which could be secretly sent to China.

Though of course, China can probably get high-resolution aerial and satellite photos anyways.

Has to be all or nothing or it's BS.

 

[microlinux]

I can only go by what I see in the open today since I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The M4P is a no-go in the US but the M400 at twice+ the price is a go?

It is a bit odd. I just picked up a Matrice 4E, no problem whatsoever. But I can’t buy an M4P.

 

[tsl16]

You can go online and change delivery instructions to leave at door without signature.

Have a farm out in a rural area, gated, nowhere for them to leave it. I had it routed to a local Walgreens which has a FedEx center where it’s waiting for me now.

 

[tsl16]

You'd think all the law enforcement departments which use DJI drones would try to lobby against bans.

Purely speculation here, but I think local agencies might be expecting some big federal grant $ to replace their DJI models if they are in fact banned. And they’ll probably get them too. The federal government won’t want to be seen as crippling LE but since they’re the ones that “took them away” will have to act on that.

 

[mavic3usa]

Have a farm out in a rural area, gated, nowhere for them to leave it. I had it routed to a local Walgreens which has a FedEx center where it’s waiting for me now.

You might be ok with Walgreens I guess it depends on the location. When Walgreens first started, I think they were a bit skeptical that people would rather pickup a package there instead of at home. I think they're mostly ok now but just be aware that theft happens in those places just like at the UPS store. For my most important packages, I try to use the Fedex location (or the UPS hub) itself where you have to show ID. Walgreens is hit or miss on the ID and if I saw an important package come thru and sat for a few days, I might take a pic of it and send it to my "friends." Just saying....