The Drone Industry is under attack again due to political ignorance. By Vic Moss. (If you own a DJI Drone you need to read this)

[The Droning Company]

The U.S. Drone Industry is Under Attack. Again.

 

[Felix le Chat]

Surely the legislators you refer to are aware that the data security protocols you mention as being required already exist as a result of the first round of witch-hunting? Namely LDM (Local Data Mode), which is still right there.... built into the flight app (FLY and GO4) and can be activated in less than 5 seconds.
Add airplane mode on the flight screen device as the belt to the LDM braces and the drone, the controller and the screen device are a closed loop.

 

[Meta4]

Surely the legislators you refer to are aware that the data security protocols you mention as being required already exist as a result of the first round of witch-hunting? Namely LDM (Local Data Mode), which is still right there.... built into the flight app (FLY and GO4) and can be activated in less than 5 seconds.
Add airplane mode on the flight screen device as the belt to the LDM braces and the drone, the controller and the screen device are a closed loop.

They probably have no such awareness of anything drone-related.
Neither do they really care about pesky facts and details.
That's not what this is about.

 

[RangerEd]

I think you missed a fourth point and that is enriching the CCP with American dollars whether it's from private citizens like you and me, or the government.

In case you haven't noticed Xi Jinping is building China's military and has already threatened those who are not aligned with the CCP's goals.

As a private citizen and Navy veteran I would prefer not to enrich the CCP's coffers.

 

[The Droning Company]

I think you missed a fourth point and that is enriching the CCP with American dollars whether it's from private citizens like you and me, or the government.

In case you haven't noticed Xi Jinping is building China's military and has already threatened those who are not aligned with the CCP's goals.

As a private citizen and Navy veteran I would prefer not to enrich the CCP's coffers.

As much as I'd like to agree with you, unfortunately this is not the case. This is about the fact that DJI drones are way better than anything made in the U.S. and companies like Skydio who make drones that cost 3 times the amount and are nowhere near the same standard are spending huge amounts of money lobbying the US government to ban them. What they should be doing is winning with the tech, not trying to hobble the competition with shady backroom deals.

The CCP can get more info from the phones we all carry that are made in China than they can from a drone which is limited in where it can fly and a phone is switched on nearly 24 hours a day. The CCP also makes more money from American manufacturers that have their products manufactured over there than it ever will selling drones to the USA and frankly there are a lot of companies over here that would go out of business if this practice were to be discontinued. What should be a smooth symbiotic relationship between the 2 counties is slowly being destroyed by what I call a lack of effective diplomacy by the last 2 U.S. administrations

 

[PepperBird]

I think you missed a fourth point and that is enriching the CCP with American dollars whether it's from private citizens like you and me, or the government.

In case you haven't noticed Xi Jinping is building China's military and has already threatened those who are not aligned with the CCP's goals.

As a private citizen and Navy veteran I would prefer not to enrich the CCP's coffers.

The 4th point is a canard.
Some of the American companies that are manufacturing in China are12:

• Apple, which produces iPhones and iPads in China
• Nike, which makes shoes and apparel in China
• Gap, which sources clothing from China
• Walmart, which imports goods from China
• L.L.Bean, which manufactures some of its products in China
• Levi Strauss & Co., which produces jeans and other clothing in China
• New Balance, which makes some of its sneakers in China
• Radio Flyer, which makes its iconic red wagons in China
• American Girl Dolls, which are assembled in China
• Chuck Taylor All Star, which are made by Converse, a subsidiary of Nike, in China
  

I seriously doubt the drone market is a substantial chunk of that market.

 

[Felix le Chat]

They probably have no such awareness of anything drone-related.
Neither do they really care about pesky facts and details.
That's not what this is about.

Perhaps you fail to recognise arch irony.

 

[chadCO]

They probably have no such awareness of anything drone-related.
Neither do they really care about pesky facts and details.
That's not what this is about.

It's all about vast quantiles of lobbyist money going into certain congressthings personal bank accounts.

 

[chadCO]

I think you missed a fourth point and that is enriching the CCP with American dollars whether it's from private citizens like you and me, or the government.

In case you haven't noticed Xi Jinping is building China's military and has already threatened those who are not aligned with the CCP's goals.

As a private citizen and Navy veteran I would prefer not to enrich the CCP's coffers.

So I'm guessing you are writing this on a 1980's Zenith laptop?
Since any electronic device made after that is pretty much 100% made in china.....
You certainly wouldn't be writing it from a cellular phone, since there wasn't even one of those not made 100% in china.

 

[CraigVMN]

You know what you never hear about? An American politician being concerned about their made in China cell phone spying on them, and their constituents. The hypocrisy is astounding.

 

[mark426]

I think you missed a fourth point and that is enriching the CCP with American dollars whether it's from private citizens like you and me, or the government.

In case you haven't noticed Xi Jinping is building China's military and has already threatened those who are not aligned with the CCP's goals.

As a private citizen and Navy veteran I would prefer not to enrich the CCP's coffers.

Do you have a cell phone, a computer, a television, the clothes you are wearing, etc, etc.. better get rid of them right now. They are all made in China.

 

[RickDan]

From my point of view, the proposed ban on DJI drones is driven by other drone manufacturers who just can't come up with a product comparable in price and quality in the consumer drone market and choose to use Federal Regulators to limit competition. Power of the legislative lobby. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Surely the legislators you refer to are aware that the data security protocols you mention as being required already exist as a result of the first round of witch-hunting? Namely LDM (Local Data Mode), which is still right there.... built into the flight app (FLY and GO4) and can be activated in less than 5 seconds.
Add airplane mode on the flight screen device as the belt to the LDM braces and the drone, the controller and the screen device are a closed loop.

The counter-argument to this is the dumb consumer, this can not be left to trusting Joe Citizen to do something to ensure National Security (like Airplane Mode).

It's a good counter-argument to a poor solution.

It's irrelevant anyway, because all of these concerns can be addressed at the network layer, by network providers, who CAN effectively be ordered to do something and expect compliance.

That's what's so maddening about this. It's easy to control network traffic, and defeat any "spying".

The Chinese do it all the time.

 

[Felix le Chat]

The counter-argument to this is the dumb consumer, this can not be left to trusting Joe Citizen to do something to ensure National Security (like Airplane Mode).

It's a good counter-argument to a poor solution.

It's irrelevant anyway, because all of these concerns can be addressed at the network layer, by network providers, who CAN effectively be ordered to do something and expect compliance.

That's what's so maddening about this. It's easy to control network traffic, and defeat any "spying".

The Chinese do it all the time.

Interesting comment... just to play Devil's Advocate, would this be the same stupid and untrustworthy 'Joe Public' who was collectively whipped up into a nationalistic frenzy by the likes of McCarthy to act as trusted informants for the Federal Government while they were 'rooting-out' the reds and the pinko's (real and imagined) during the 50's and 60's?

I agree that the simplest method of dealing with potential data harvesting is to force the network providers to block traffic to and from specific domains... the problem with that lies in the fact that commercial companies (the ISP's) would then experience the loss of a source of consistent revenue which shareholders would have a serious piss and moan about... and on the other side of the coin: thousands of users of DJI products would end up with operationally hobbled drones within 90-odd days.

 

[hank970]

The 4th point is a canard.
Some of the American companies that are manufacturing in China are12:

• Apple, which produces iPhones and iPads in China
• Nike, which makes shoes and apparel in China
• Gap, which sources clothing from China
• Walmart, which imports goods from China
• L.L.Bean, which manufactures some of its products in China
• Levi Strauss & Co., which produces jeans and other clothing in China
• New Balance, which makes some of its sneakers in China
• Radio Flyer, which makes its iconic red wagons in China
• American Girl Dolls, which are assembled in China
• Chuck Taylor All Star, which are made by Converse, a subsidiary of Nike, in China

I seriously doubt the drone market is a substantial chunk of that market.

To that list, you can add Tesla, which makes cars in China and is also heavily involved in our space program. Am I the only one who sees a potential for some high-tech chicanery there?