The Latest Effort to Ban DJI in America.

[GFields]

Yup, I am giving Autel a try due to their close out prices on their v2's... their hardware seems OK, but my god, their App and software sucks.

I have the Autel Evo Lite Plus. Love it. But keep in mind, that Autel is an American company, but they are owned by Autel Intelligent Technology in China. Which, for many, put them in the same boat as DJI

 

[shb]

There’s a difference between promoting and sharing info with the group. I have no need to promote. My channel feeds itself. This is a good place to share information for people who are seeking it. Appreciate your thoughtful opinion though.

The thing is, you title is misleading, just to get more people to watch you video. Nobody is proposing banning DJI drones for recreational pilots. Right?

 

[Aerophile]

The thing is, you title is misleading, just to get more people to watch you video. Nobody is proposing banning DJI drones for recreational pilots. Right?

It's a post-truth world.

 

[Drifter70]

Should I not but a Mavic Mini 4 Pro right now?

 

[Cafguy]

Should I not but a Mavic Mini 4 Pro right now?

DJI Drones WILL NOT be Banned for use you have NO worry.- If you plan to use it for a Government contract I wouldnt.

 

[shb]

DJI Drones WILL NOT be Banned for use you have NO worry.- If you plan to use it for a Government contract I wouldnt.

It's unfortunate that some vlogger's use false titles that some people actually believe.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Banning them from sensitive government use is a good idea. After all, they do "phone home" to a geopolitical/military adversary, and it would be foolish to assume just because we can't guess how they're using the data gathered against the US doesn't mean there's nothing there.

Keep in mind there's a data mining risk with anything like this. I don't like the NSA capturing and storing all my email communications, even though I'm not doing anything wrong, so "have nothing to worry about". It may be harmless now, but not so when someone gets an "idea" in the future.

See, Trevor Noah Faces Backlash Over Twitter History for more understanding of the "captured and stored" data risk.

If they don't have the data, they can't mine it later.

 

[Markptate1962]

I'm certain you said quite clearly that the Bill in question would affect "recreational and hobbyist" owners of DJI products... clearly inferring that the legislation would directly impact grass-roots Americans who don't wear a uniform or have a sticky mitt held out for a Federal grant. So, how, exactly would Homer from the Bayou be affected when he wants to use his Mavic to drop catfish bait? You are absolutely correct about there being a grand total of one domestic American manufacturer that could produce a drone that is more-or-less on a par with the millions of DJI models currently whizzing about through the skies, but they have kicked the commercial market out of bed and set their sights to exclusively cater for security and military sponsors, so no grass-roots drones for grass-roots punters there, Skydio.

I find it really funny that not one of the General Patton clones getting bent out of shape about hypothetical 'Chinese spy-tech' has raised a single word of complaint about Google Earth, which byte for byte offers a far more accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date photographic source of potentially compromising image data from 10,000 feet all the way down to street level. This attitude regarding China isn't anything new and I can recall at least a couple of occasions in the last three years where the Red-under-the-bed McCarthyistic rhetoric has been dragged out of Grandpa's campaign chest, dusted off and then trotted out... on both sides of the Atlantic - yes, we in the UK had to put up with tub-thumping panic-mongers as well - just before Huawei ended up being told to take a hike with their 5G network.

On either side of The Pond, I honestly think that those of us who own and use DJI (or Hubsan, or Autel, or Yuneec) drones have more to worry about with the alterations in Aviation Authority regulations, which will eventually freeze the vast majority of us (including those who pay the peppercorn annual license for 'recreational use') out of the airspace as and when the big commercial carriers get their ducks in a row and then start to insist that we are the single danger to their sub-400' airspace... the airspace that they will have paid Aviation Authorities obscenely large annual fees to license for commercial use.
After all: this isn't exactly without precedent - as anyone who operates ham radio will recall, when in the 1990's, Government departments sold off wide swathes of radio frequency bandwidths used by licensed amateur radio enthusiasts to mobile phone companies, leaving the license paying ham radio operators staring at the two thirds of their dial they couldn't legally use anymore.

You listed every single thought I have had as to why this so-called "Chinese" drone ban may come about. Control Control. Control!! U.S. Government doing what it does best - while NOT being in the best interest of Joe & Jane Public. Absolutely infuriating!

 

[GFields]

Stay on topic.

 

[rwilliam99]

The problem, IMO is there has been a LOT of talk about "dangerous data being sent to China" - but as far as I know, there has been NOTHING specific about WHAT the data is, or how/when it is being sent. There have never been any SPECIFIC concerns, just "drone comes from China so that is BAD" scare tactics.

If they could put together a coherent argument on exactly what the data is, when it is being sent, and WHY it is a concern, it would be way easier to pursue a ban. As it is, it just seem to be simple scare tactics.

 

[mavic3usa]

The problem, IMO is there has been a LOT of talk about "dangerous data being sent to China" - but as far as I know, there has been NOTHING specific about WHAT the data is, or how/when it is being sent. There have never been any SPECIFIC concerns, just "drone comes from China so that is BAD" scare tactics.

If they could put together a coherent argument on exactly what the data is, when it is being sent, and WHY it is a concern, it would be way easier to pursue a ban. As it is, it just seem to be simple scare tactics.

Unfortunately there could be congresspersons who are read in and we the public are not. The US government is not going to lay it out. They're not going to tell you and me and China what they know. I honestly don't believe much of anything but I'm not yet ready to say it's not happening because they won't tell me all about it.

If the US is aware of some tricks the CCP is pulling and the CCP doesn't know that we know and we are providing false feedback or selectively blocking the sensitive info and allowing the harmless details to flow, we shouldn't expect to hear more about this. Just like we didn't hear about balloons until lately. The mood of the country is not yet ready to take drastic steps but the world in the 21st century rotates on a tiny pinhead and everything can change tomorrow; so you never know. We *might* just one day see our first full 100% ban on imports of Chinese-made drones and the drone community won't have any say in the matter because we have no power. It's been done before, a lot of stuff never makes it into the US, a ton of stuff is banned. You can't stop people from owning it and using it but for sure, you can prevent it from crossing the border and being sold by merchants who do business in the US.

I expect the China issue to completely blow up in 2024 and/or 2025.

 

[rwilliam99]

Unfortunately there could be congresspersons who are read in and we the public are not. The US government is not going to lay it out. They're not going to tell you and me and China what they know. I honestly don't believe much of anything but I'm not yet ready to say it's not happening because they won't tell me all about it.

If the US is aware of some tricks the CCP is pulling and the CCP doesn't know that we know and we are providing false feedback or selectively blocking the sensitive info and allowing the harmless details to flow, we shouldn't expect to hear more about this. Just like we didn't hear about balloons until lately. The mood of the country is not yet ready to take drastic steps but the world in the 21st century rotates on a tiny pinhead and everything can change tomorrow; so you never know. We *might* just one day see our first full 100% ban on imports of Chinese-made drones and the drone community won't have any say in the matter because we have no power. It's been done before, a lot of stuff never makes it into the US, a ton of stuff is banned. You can't stop people from owning it and using it but for sure, you can prevent it from crossing the border and being sold by merchants who do business in the US.

I expect the China issue to completely blow up in 2024 and/or 2025.

You put more faith in the intelligence of our congress critters than I do......

 

[Starz]

Should I not but a Mavic Mini 4 Pro right now?

You should. All this will get nowhere fast.

 

[ericole]

Exactly WHICH COMPONENT on the DJI drone do these Lobbyist find questionable that I can't just swap out myself and still use for Gov work? Maybe I might want to use my Mavic Pro that really isnt a Mavic Pro anymore but a DJI Plastic frame with other peoples electronics stuffed in it. Is that not possible because the Frame is branded DJI?

Being in this "world" I can say it's pretty much all of the software internals and not knowing what kind of "phone home" capability might be baked into these Chinese products. It is an untrue belief that there are private companies in China. ANY company in China can be required to do and include things that the Communist Chinese party wants. For the federal govt, especially the DoD, even the sourcing of component chips is a major concern if they come from there b/c there is no telling what kind of malicious code is buried within.

 

[beroe]

There are a lot of electronic toys out there and all are made in China. Maybe Barbie and baby monitors secretly talk to Xi Jinping? That being said, never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups (i.e. politicians). They can use this as a diversionary way to avoid taking care of more serious issues.