New DJI policy: No flight record syncing for US drone pilots

[Meta4]

Maybe DJI will reconsider on going back and releasing the SDK.

Perhaps the sun will come up in the west tomorrow too.

 

[MS Coast]

I'm just so sick of government

An anarchist, then?

 

[BlueHeeler]

An anarchist, then?

LOL, the Government is the Anarchist ! Congress and the Alphabet Agencies are staffed with some of the slickest and vile creatures on Earth, some are good, but I am afraid they are outnumbered now.

 

[Zbip57]

This entire issue is ridiculous.

Syncing your flight logs to DJI's servers has always been optional. If you don't want to back up your flight logs to "the cloud" on DJI's servers, there is a toggle in the app to switch that option on/off.

If you're paranoid and don't trust that toggle to actually turn off the flight log sync, then simply put your phone into airplane mode or ensure your phone or controller is otherwise denied access to an internet connection. If you're not interested in keeping your own flight logs, delete them off your phone or controller before re-connecting to the internet.

The flight logs are extremely useful in diagnosing the cause of unexpected flight behaviours. Sharing the logs with DJI allows them to improve their products, and to determine potential causes of warranty claims.

The thumbnail images on each log are merely a cue to YOU so that you can easily go back and recognize any particular log file, other than by the date. DJI are NOT pirating all your captured video or photo images! Your phone's monthly data bill would be astronomical if all those videos were being surreptitiously transmitted over your internet connection! Are those idiots claiming the low-res thumbnails are supposed to be some sort of treasure trove of espionage information?

It's an indication of how seriously DJI is taking this latest threat. They're entirely disabling the option to sync flight logs. The logs are still being recorded on your device. If you want to share them for diagnosis, you'll have to manually copy them and submit them by email or whatever. But you'll no longer have the aid of any thumbnail image to help identify the particular log of interest. Sheesh.

I'm pretty sure the original purpose of the flight logs was to protect DJI from the litigious environment of operating anything within the USA. Some idiot might be caught using a DJI drone for some stupid purpose and then try to sue DJI, claiming the drone just took off all by itself and all by itself took spy video of some critical infrastructure. DJI could dispute this and protect themselves from liability by demonstrating conclusively from the flight logs exactly what actually happened.

And still nobody has pointed to actual evidence of how China is supposedly spying on the USA using DJI drones.

 

[msinger]

That only shows how to get files off the controller. I always delete them from the controller after I sync. I need to get them off DJI server and back onto my RC 2???

Deleting flight logs from the RC 2 (or DJI apps on other mobile devices) also deletes those flight logs from the DJI Cloud. There is no way to get them back unless you've also synced them elsewhere in an app like Flight Reader or Airdata.

 

[MS Coast]

DJI to Disable Flight Record Sync in the US: What This Means for AirData Customers | Airdata UAV Drone Blog

Starting June 12, 2024, DJI just announced that flight record sync feature the DJI Fly Pilot 2 apps will disabled the United States. change... Read more!

airdata.com

Looks like only the RC2 controller requires manual updates.

 

[MS Coast]

LOL, the Government is the Anarchist ! Congress and the Alphabet Agencies are staffed with some of the slickest and vile creatures on Earth, some are good, but I am afraid they are outnumbered now.

Look up anarchist.

 

[mavic3usa]

This entire issue is ridiculous.

Syncing your flight logs to DJI's servers has always been optional. If you don't want to back up your flight logs to "the cloud" on DJI's servers, there is a toggle in the app to switch that option on/off.

If you're paranoid and don't trust that toggle to actually turn off the flight log sync, then simply put your phone into airplane mode or ensure your phone or controller is otherwise denied access to an internet connection. If you're not interested in keeping your own flight logs, delete them off your phone or controller before re-connecting to the internet.

The flight logs are extremely useful in diagnosing the cause of unexpected flight behaviours. Sharing the logs with DJI allows them to improve their products, and to determine potential causes of warranty claims.

The thumbnail images on each log are merely a cue to YOU so that you can easily go back and recognize any particular log file, other than by the date. DJI are NOT pirating all your captured video or photo images! Your phone's monthly data bill would be astronomical if all those videos were being surreptitiously transmitted over your internet connection! Are those idiots claiming the low-res thumbnails are supposed to be some sort of treasure trove of espionage information?

It's an indication of how seriously DJI is taking this latest threat. They're entirely disabling the option to sync flight logs. The logs are still being recorded on your device. If you want to share them for diagnosis, you'll have to manually copy them and submit them by email or whatever. But you'll no longer have the aid of any thumbnail image to help identify the particular log of interest. Sheesh.

I'm pretty sure the original purpose of the flight logs was to protect DJI from the litigious environment of operating anything within the USA. Some idiot might be caught using a DJI drone for some stupid purpose and then try to sue DJI, claiming the drone just took off all by itself and all by itself took spy video of some critical infrastructure. DJI could dispute this and protect themselves from liability by demonstrating conclusively from the flight logs exactly what actually happened.

And still nobody has pointed to actual evidence of how China is supposedly spying on the USA using DJI drones.

I think the idea is the capability is present even if it is optional. DJI seeks to make that capability not even possible by choice or by accident. This is about the government, not about what the pilot can and cannot do. The argument is likely a million drones are shipped with this capability turned on and DJI is taking advantage of it wherever and whenever they can because not only are pilots unaware but also they seem to don't mind or don't understand what is possible. By closing that door in the US, DJI is attempting to demonstrate that part of the issue is no longer a valid concern.

As I mentioned several times, whenever the government gets involved and upsets the balance, it never goes good for anyone. Maybe we can course correct for this one but the government inference will not stop; except to see more of it down the line.

 

[Meta4]

The argument is likely a million drones are shipped with this capability turned on and DJI is taking advantage of it wherever and whenever they can because not only are pilots unaware but also they seem to don't mind or don't understand what is possible.

The default setting does not autoupload any files to DJI.
If you choose to synch files to DJI's server, you have to set the app to do it.

But DJI isn't "taking advantage" of anyone's data.
People who actually read the recorded flight data understand there's nothing in it that's of any use to nefarious actors.

 

[anotherlab]

Stefanik's ‘‘Countering CCP Drones Act’’ was never about a real espionage threat from DJI equipment. It's a political bill, introduced by a representative that wants to be vice-president.

DJI's announcement isn't going to change that. As others have mentioned, if DJI can flip a switch "off", they can just as easily flip it back "on" again.

If Congress was concerned over the threat of drone imagery being sent to China, they would ban all drones. What's to prevent a bad actor from using a Skydio drone to take photos and video of a classified site and then upload them to Xi Jinping's personal DropBox account? (Other than existing espionage laws already on the books in the US).

 

[Zbip57]

I think the idea is the capability is present even if it is optional. [...] DJI is taking advantage of it wherever and whenever they can [...]

Please explain, other than for benefit of product development and liability protection, how is DJI "taking advantage" of any uploaded flight logs? How is any of that useful for espionage purposes?

The flight logs contain a wealth of information relating to the performance of the aircraft itself and the control inputs used throughout the flight. Which of the thousands of data points in the logs contain anything at all of espionage value?

Why is the US gov't so concerned?? Can anyone give any concrete examples of how DJI represents an actual threat?

It's purely a political stunt. Anything from China must be bad, therefor must be banned?

 

[Sjkieffer]

Deleting flight logs from the RC 2 (or DJI apps on other mobile devices) also deletes those flight logs from the DJI Cloud. There is no way to get them back unless you've also synced them elsewhere in an app like Flight Reader or Airdata.

I mean.. maybe not full.logs but what about the record that we see in profile?

 

[Zbip57]

You can always manually upload flights
Instructions are on the Airdata website

Americans can't upload their flight logs to DJI because China isn't to be trusted, yet it's perfectly okay to upload all those same log files to be analyzed and stored at Airdata, or to Mike Singer's excellent Flight Reader, or elsewhere...

Who owns Airdata UAV? What are they doing with all of that valuable espionage data? If you do a Whois search on "Airdata.com", it says their website runs on Amazon Technology. How is Amazon "taking advantage" of that sensitive data?

 

[jephoto]

It's purely a political stunt. Anything from China must be bad, therefor must be banned?

Yup. Business as usual...
Next they should ban iPhones, All Apple products, Dell computers, Phillips products....

 

[Xitor]

Because they can turn it back on just as quickly as they turned it off.

Or you could also just opt back in if you find convenience of having all your flight data there.

 

[anotherlab]

I wrote mine, but he is a maga wingnut so it went nowhere.

Without going into talking about positions, it's not a MAGA issue.

It was sponsored by Stefanik, but the ‘‘Countering CCP Drones Act’’ bill received bi-partisan support and was voted 43 to 0 by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to be sent for the full house for a vote.

 

[Droning on and on...]

I wrote mine, but he is a maga wingnut so it went nowhere.

Gang, please watch the political commentary. I'm not looking forward to the irrelevant debate comments like this cause, and if one side is allowed to comment like this...

 

[Dmcvey]

It maybe good practice but the FAA does not require logs be kept.

 

[GFields]

This type of thread is hard to keep politics out. But, you don't have to mention names or political parties. I have had to remove some posts and will have to close the thread if it continues.

 

[Droning on and on...]

There are several definitions out there, and yes, there's one which refers to Anti-government in a definition, those in government today allow Anarchism unimpeded ( BLM, Antifa ), therefore I believe our government in some forms are the Anarchist in dealing with the good people of this Nation.

I keep seeing Antichrist where Anarchist is written in this discussion.

Somehow it seems to work.