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https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-dji-spying-americans

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I'm pretty sure I just read this article. My thoughts are, if there is some espionage built into my drone then some of the "Rocket Scientists" that work for the Government could easily discover it and show us the FACTS! Not speculation but facts. Now assuming that my 2 pound drone is a major threat to our country, what kind of data is being transferred to the Chinese? In my case, the Chinese are now in possession of many pictures of my local park. Give me a break here! I'm sorry, Rant Out!
 
Thoughts?

The Link
Drones from China company cause spying concerns, experts claim

The 4:45 legnth video by Fox News is very interesting showing how other nations around the world are using drone technology to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Under FAA rules these things can not be done in the United States however.

The written article is a rehash of the DJI drones spying on America Story.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Reading the story is optional. If you have been following this forum for a year you have already read this article more than once.
 
I'm pretty sure I just read this article. My thoughts are, if there is some espionage built into my drone then some of the "Rocket Scientists" that work for the Government could easily discover it and show us the FACTS! Not speculation but facts. Now assuming that my 2 pound drone is a major threat to our country, what kind of data is being transferred to the Chinese? In my case, the Chinese are now in possession of many pictures of my local park. Give me a break here! I'm sorry, Rant Out!

I'm pretty sure I have read several re-hashed versions of this story over the last several months as well; there's absolutely nothing new here that hasn't been said before and, as you say, it's STILL all allegations - hearsay in legal parlance - and zero facts.

Very similar to the US government's stance over Huawei, in otherwords, but here's the thing - in that case the US has presumably shared whatever evidence they had with the UK, Germany, etc. under the so-called "Five Eyes" agreement, and yet they're pushing ahead with deploying Huawei equipment anyway. Despite whatever information the US had provided, and they've been able to determine themselves (neither the UK or Germany are amateurs in the electronic espionage field). Likewise, neither country is banning official use of DJI drones - again, if there is a credible threat then you'd think the US would have shared their evidence, no?

As you say, so what if the Chinese have possession of pictures of your local park? Or a State's National Park, for that matter, or the course of a pipeline or something that's marked on a map/visible on Google Earth anyway? OK, if you're a military contractor or similar, then flying survey missions over sensitive locations might be an issue (just knowing where the drone was operating within a larger area would potentially be revealling in some cases), but other than that - where's the risk even *if* every last bit of data is being sent to China?

Frankly, I think it's almost certainly just FUD and has far more to do with bringing pressure to bear and push the "China Bad" narrative in the US's trade war than anything else. So, yeah, certain sections of the media are going to run with it without fact checking because clicks and/or sucking up to The Man. For the average man on the street though, it's a non-issue, but if you do feel strongly enough about it from *any* angle, well, there's always Skydio, Parrot, or even building your own aircraft, right?
 
Actually I thought parts of the video section were quite positive about drones. Using drones to deliver medications or remotely disinfect areas.
 
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...Under FAA rules these things can not be done in the United States however...

I have been seeing a lot of videos of police departments flying drones all over the place. Chula Vista PD in CA is permitted to fly surveillance drones at night, BVLOS, 3 mile range, over streets, people, property, etc. Soon they will be everywhere.
 
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Thoughts?

( Comment Removed )
I am not sure why that comment was removed. It was perfectly valid.

2 This is a NON-STORY you can only fly a DJI drone in areas the FAA say you can! (NFZ's) So China can only spy on places *anyone* can go with a ground based video camera. Flight paths are going to tell you very little. If China/DJI wants to spy on the USA they only have to search on YouTube, Particularly and non-DJI drone footage as those drones won't have DJI's NFZ's in them.

3 China/DJI could spy onthe USA but only where Americans have intentionally disabled the NFZ system to fly in an NFZ that contains something sensitive. That is hardly DJI's fault.

4 Make your minds up please! :
Either DJI is spying on the USA or it is over zealous with it's NFZ's and you can't fly anywhere!!
There are any number of threads, at the same time, saying one or the other point of view. They can't both be right,
 
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I have been seeing a lot of videos of police departments flying drones all over the place. Chula Vista PD in CA is permitted to fly surveillance drones at night, BVLOS, 3 mile range, over streets, people, property, etc. Soon they will be everywhere.

Are you quite sure about that?
 
Are you quite sure about that?

Sure about what? Chula Vista PD drone program is matter of public record with Chula Vista and FAA. Yes I am sure it portends the future where police fly BVLOS routinely over city streets and populations. Yes I am sure police acquisition and use of drones is rapidly increasing as we speak.
 
True - provided that you are fine with 2-year-old imagery.
Isn't it "up to" 2 years old?
Also I have noticed that as you zoom in one place and then move around a location in street view that the copyright notice changes date. So it is possible that scanning round a location the date on the images change by "several" years as you move along a street.

This might be a smart algorithm that only updates images that have changed by more than so many percent. OTOH why not update the image anyway?
 
Sure about what? Chula Vista PD drone program is matter of public record with Chula Vista and FAA. Yes I am sure it portends the future where police fly BVLOS routinely over city streets and populations. Yes I am sure police acquisition and use of drones is rapidly increasing as we speak.

You said that they are already flying BVLOS, over people etc. Where is this publicly on record?
 
Isn't it "up to" 2 years old?
Also I have noticed that as you zoom in one place and then move around a location in street view that the copyright notice changes date. So it is possible that scanning round a location the date on the images change by "several" years as you move along a street.

This might be a smart algorithm that only updates images that have changed by more than so many percent. OTOH why not update the image anyway?
Because they're hiding it from China! :)
 
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Isn't it "up to" 2 years old?
Also I have noticed that as you zoom in one place and then move around a location in street view that the copyright notice changes date. So it is possible that scanning round a location the date on the images change by "several" years as you move along a street.

This might be a smart algorithm that only updates images that have changed by more than so many percent. OTOH why not update the image anyway?

It can be even older. The point is that for some purposes it's too old to be useful.
 
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"The Communist Party of China now has in their law the availability to interfere and take information from virtually every Chinese company," Warner warned. "As long as that exists, that provides a whole set of vulnerabilities I think American business has to consider on a going-forward basis."

And the CIA don't have the same ability to gain data from US manufacturers?

Paranoia on so many levels.......I'm off to the gun shop.
 
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I take with a grain of salt (or maybe a pound) how much "valuable" information could be retrieved, IF they wanted to.

I really enjoyed the movie just released on DVD "Fallen Angel" where the small and very fast drones were on attack. Some of my staff were asking "could drones really do that", which also makes me cringe. The movie was fantastic, but just a movie. Unfortunately, the common public reacts to the "what if".
 
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I take with a grain of salt (or maybe a pound) how much "valuable" information could be retrieved, IF they wanted to.

I really enjoyed the movie just released on DVD "Fallen Angel" where the small and very fast drones were on attack. Some of my staff were asking "could drones really do that", which also makes me cringe. The movie was fantastic, but just a movie. Unfortunately, the common public reacts to the "what if".

For the most part - nothing useful, certainly for publicly operated drones. That's not necessarily true for drones use by the military or around sensitive/classified operations. That, of course, was the genesis of the DoD's original concerns - they were being used in training operations if not actual deployment.
 
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