Mavic Pro sending Coordinates to Authorities

[Callum]

I'm going to have ti disagree with you on this point. There are cases where a few peoples actions can affect the group at large. Yes, every time there is a violent firearm incident it negatively affects the rest of the law-abiding firearm owners with new and "better" laws. When a sport bike rider has an accident doing a stoppie in heavy traffic or a biker with straight pipes cruises through heavy traffic more new and "better" laws happen. Recreational drones are a new area that is developing daily and every irresponsible user gives the public new reasons to start asking for more new and "better" laws. We need to police our own community or the police will start doing it.

I don't think he's going to get it mate, save your time.

 

[TheRoach]

Not sure if this has been discussed before here, but I saw a Youtube video where a Mavic Pro user talked about how the Mavic Pro sends your coordinates to local authorities. I'm a little concerned because I am close to a nature area and I am worried that I'll receive a fine in the mail (or a knock on the door) for flying over restricted areas.

What do you know or think about this? Should we be concerned that this will cause a lot of us Mavic Pro users to become targets for government agencies to create a new revenue stream?

Thanks!

I left DJI a year ago over privacy and other concerns. There is absolutely no reason for DJI to hold this information. NONE. The entire platform reeks of communistic practices and control. No thanks.

 

[Callum]

I left DJI a year ago over privacy and other concerns. There is absolutely no reason for DJI to hold this information. NONE. The entire platform reeks of communistic practices and control. No thanks.

What do you fly now?

 

[locoman]

Looks like the Mavic may be sending location/ID info VIA UUID (Universally unique identifier). Thoughts?

Where can I find this screen, I have look on my GO4 app, can't see it.

Did you read the article? Here's a quote " Finisterre discovered that he was able to access private data uploaded by DJI customers — not just flight logs and aerial photos, but also government IDs, drivers licenses, and passports. What’s more, some of the flight logs appeared to have been sent from government and military domains"
Who knows what information is being collected or what is being done with it?
No other drone maker is doing this.

Yes, but that is different then reading the drones position while flying. He had hacked into DJI's computers.

 

[raymo]

The NTSB generated report may have lend some insight into this discussion. htmlReport

This is an extremely fascinating and revealing incident report from the FAA. It certainly clarifies what some on this blog have been debating for a long time and there is no doubt where the blame is placed by this report, even though not explicitly stated. As I have suspected for many years, helicopters fly under a unique set of rules (laws) than do fixed-wing aircraft. The 500 ft rule can generally be waived by the helicopter pilot at his discretion. So in this case, the quad pilot was under the 400 ft. level but so was the helio pilot. So, potential for collision. One should argue that the piloted aircraft should be required to fly above their limits except in unusual circumstances, and we as UAV pilots should be under 400 ft (except here in Canada - 90 metres). This incident report also fully clarifies what VLOS is, and why in Canada, 500 metre horizontal limits are placed on flights. Note that this owner was tracked down by a serial number on one of the motors. It ain't that hard!

I have a question. How many private pilots are fully aware of NOTAMs before they take off? I think about flying farmers just out to survey their land.

We can all learn from this and there are many take-aways that can be had.

 

[toddellis]

just the latest example. there is no private property in china - this chinese company operates under that principal. downgrade to 400 firmware, install a firewall & always fly in airplane mode ... always.

 

[ac0j]

just the latest example. there is no private property in china - this chinese company operates under that principal. downgrade to 400 firmware, install a firewall & always fly in airplane mode ... always.

And what does this do? if I do this can I fly around military bases and prisons without getting caught?
OR does it provide me safety form DJI that wants access to my vast fortune?

Privacy... HAH!
Question, have you ever gone online for an insurance quote? I did that just the other day with progressive insurance.. As soon as I entered my address. it knew my name, wifes name, my house details and value, what cars I own, motorcycles i own. It was quite sobering.
Dont think that just because YOU dont make you information public, that others arent taking care of that for you.

 

[toddellis]

... and that makes THIS better how? I'm a pt. 107 licensed operator. I follow the rules, I often fly near airports with approved waivers. Dji STILL wants to control where I fly. I don't accept that, so I turned off THEIR access to MY property. Which is my point about China.

 

[HighlandsVideo]

Oh and the FAA couldn't give a **** where I fly my drone

Obviously they do or there wouldn't be any such thing as restricted areas nor any need to police drone pilots.

I agree that any technology that can correctly identify those who violate restricted areas will help avoid blanket restrictions applicable to all drone pilots.

I'm grateful to DJI for making this technology as I am aware of their role they played in getting the FAA to develop Pt. 107 in the first place. I trust them not to provide my personal data without proof of my having flown dangerously. I hope they will do a better job of showing us where such restrictions are, however and the skymap app mentioned in the video looks like a good one. I will be getting it.

As the first ones, we are the pioneers of a new era and the future of flying UAS in the US and elsewhere will rely heavily on the track record we create. It is easy to imagine a future that had decided that flying aircraft of any kind is simply "not for the masses" !

 

[Callum]

Obviously they do or there wouldn't be any such thing as restricted areas nor any need to police drone pilots.

I agree that any technology that can correctly identify those who violate restricted areas will help avoid blanket restrictions applicable to all drone pilots.

I'm grateful to DJI for making this technology as I am aware of their role they played in getting the FAA to develop Pt. 107 in the first place. I trust them not to provide my personal data without proof of my having flown dangerously. I hope they will do a better job of showing us where such restrictions are, however and the skymap app mentioned in the video looks like a good one. I will be getting it.

As the first ones, we are the pioneers of a new era and the future of flying UAS in the US and elsewhere will rely heavily on the track record we create. It is easy to imagine a future that had decided that flying aircraft of any kind is simply "not for the masses" !

Sorry mate, bad joke. The FAA don't care what I do but the CAA certainly do.

 

[cfoxtrot]

Where can I find this screen, I have look on my GO4 app, can't see it.

With the app connected to the drone, on the MC settings tab, the top setting is "Remote Identification".

Speaking for Android only, I can not comment on the IOS version of GO4.

EDIT: You can turn it off, HOWEVER you must do so for every flight as it defaults back to "ON".

 

[Lopez0015]

Got a link?

I don’t remember where I saw this last year

DJI launches their new drone surveilance techonology called AeroScope.
AeroScope works with ALL existing DJI products as it piggybacks on the RC link

 

[Tech49]

... and that makes THIS better how? I'm a pt. 107 licensed operator. I follow the rules, I often fly near airports with approved waivers. Dji STILL wants to control where I fly. I don't accept that, so I turned off THEIR access to MY property. Which is my point about China.

How did you accomplish this?

 

[dewster]

This is partly why the U.S. Military stopped use of the commercial drone. There's just too much data sent to third parties. It wouldn't be hard to find out nuisance pilots or someone flying in a sensitive area. Your phone tattles on you all the time. Now your smart drone phones home whenever it's online and broadcasts more information than it should while in flight.

We need a drone that operates on a crypto blockchain. Lol

 

[Lopez0015]

This is partly why the U.S. Military stopped use of the commercial drone. There's just too much data sent to third parties. It wouldn't be hard to find out nuisance pilots or someone flying in a sensitive area. Your phone tattles on you all the time. Now your smart drone phones home whenever it's online and broadcasts more information than it should while in flight.

We need a drone that operates on a crypto blockchain. Lol

Yes [emoji23] but this Aeroscope works true signal on rc to drone
DJI Unveils Technology To Identify And Track Airborne Drones
Is old news

 

[Owlpic]

Here is a recent DJI NFZ (Not FAA) that shuts my Mavic off even if it is in a building. Virginia to Maine.

 

[toddellis]

How did you accomplish this?

there are videos out there that detail the whole process. google is your friend. not supposed to talk about specifics here.

*this doesn't do anything, i don't think, for aeroscope. it DOES, however, free me from all of DJI's pesky geofencing.

 

[bassinbutch]

Interesting discussion. A couple of points. 1) Anyone who is not completely off the grid cannot have an expectation of complete privacy. 2) Even though the thread is about DJI data collection, there is the implication that it is being fed to law enforcement. Hint: Law enforcement doesn't give a **** about that data, except in certain circumstances.

We have one such circumstance in our county, a "tank farm" which hosts fill stations for multiple petroleum companies, along with a small refinery and multiple facilities which distribute anhydrous ammonia. If someone flew their UAV over that, authorities would be all over it like frat boys on a keg.

I say this as an employee of Emergency Management/Homeland Security. I fly my Mavic while assisting other agencies in missions such as search and rescue, flying over structure fires, searching for murder weapons, etc. Every authority I've ever spoken with doesn't care about drone flying as long as it's done in a safe responsible manner.

 

[MADMAX-69]

Just like murderers give hunters a bad name?
Or bad cooks give chefs a bad name?
Maybe people who go to the gym give fat people a bad name?

Maybe you are being just a little dramatic? Its his drone, His money, His reputation.
His actions will have zero effect on you personally, unless you are flying in the same place at the same time.

wake up dummy, didnt you ever hear of stereotyping

 

[Callum]

Privacy... HAH!
Question, have you ever gone online for an insurance quote? I did that just the other day with progressive insurance.. As soon as I entered my address. it knew my name, wifes name, my house details and value, what cars I own, motorcycles i own. It was quite sobering.
Dont think that just because YOU dont make you information public, that others arent taking care of that for you.

That sounds like the fault of your government and where data protection laws come in.

In Europe we have the Data protection directive.

Processing personal data is strictly regulated.

Companies like DJI who deal with European citizens are supposed to comply with these regulations.

Wether they do or not is another story.