This Hacker Tool Can Pinpoint a DJI Drone Operator’s Exact Location Every DJI quadcopter broadcasts its operator’s position via radio—unencrypted. Now

[anotherlab]

I used to do some work in AIS (ship tracking data) for blue force tracking of military vessels. To encrypt the data stream was very CPU intensive which means using a more powerful CPU that sucked up a lot of power. That was 15 years ago; maybe CPU's used in cell phones today might work.

Encrypting a live data stream wouldn't be a problem with today's chipsets.

 

[anotherlab]

You have no expectation of privacy once you leave your home.

That's not exactly accurate.

"Although someone may not have a right to seclusion when in public view, the law can still protect people from being portrayed in a way that could be considered humiliating or from having their private details broadcast."

Source

 

[lookout]

IMHO this is what started this whole mess.
Amazon and others want to use drones for commercial purposes.
Currently they "share" the airspace and would be responsible for collisions with personal drones.
They are IMHO trying to kill hobby drones by regulating them out of existence to satisfy the big corporations with plenty of $$$. Then the low altitude space is clear of nuisances.

Right all it takes is a situation like that to cause unnecessary strife.

Nope. FedEx and Amazon need your space previously occupied by an ama flying site to make deliveries. Your fria application is denied. You were using a remote id module until we decided whether to approve it or not right? You'll have to continue using one from now on.

Does seem to explain why they are so heavy handed about registration and remote ID. So they can identify the owner of the drone they mowed down by the delivery drone. Amazon and FedEx and ups still don't want to pay off on it and doubtful the delivery drones will be listening to remote id broadcasts for collision avoidance.

Leaving it up to your local Karen to clear the airways, so they can get their delivery. Oh my delivery got here.

Delivery drones aren't ready for prime time (pun) yet. If I request a return does a delivery drone stay on my porch until I bring a return item?

Still no explanation as to why it concerns incursions with manned aircraft if for limited reasons do we share the air with them.

 

[ksnax]

I'm honestly trying to imagine the sort of person who has time to use this track down an operator. As a resident of an area of over 1/4 million people, the number times I have even seen a drone flying here are exactly the number of times I have launched mine.

So the question is whether it is even remotely realistic to expect that somebody has the patience and means to take advantage of it at all. Unless you are peeping your neighbors on a regular basis, nobody is likely to do that. If you are flying from your house all of the time, people are going to figure out where you are anyway.

It just seems paranoid to worry about at all for either hobby or commercial use.

 

[djwak59]

IMHO this is what started this whole mess.
Amazon and others want to use drones for commercial purposes.
Currently they "share" the airspace and would be responsible for collisions with personal drones.
They are IMHO trying to kill hobby drones by regulating them out of existence to satisfy the big corporations with plenty of $$$. Then the low altitude space is clear of nuisances.

Exactly.

 

[Yaros]

I don't know if it is directly related to this, but aeroscope got discontinued one day after this tool was released.

DJI quietly discontinues its drone-detecting AeroScope system

DJI says it’s “no longer in production.”

www.theverge.com

 

[lookout]

I don't know if it is directly related to this, but aeroscope got discontinued one day after this tool was released.

DJI quietly discontinues its drone-detecting AeroScope system

DJI says it’s “no longer in production.”

www.theverge.com

Maybe since we are going to use remote id, aeroscope will be disabled on our latest firmwares too?

 

[AZDave]

I don't know if it is directly related to this, but aeroscope got discontinued one day after this tool was released.

DJI quietly discontinues its drone-detecting AeroScope system

DJI says it’s “no longer in production.”

www.theverge.com

I could be wrong, but I thought I read that DJI said they had (or were going to) patch their software so that hardware hack wouldn't be able to detect most of the information it was picking up. My first thought when I read that was that if DJI did that it would probably affect Aeroscope as well ... at least the version they had been selling.

 

[Deleted member 162835]

The fraction of people who know of these tools to track down a drone pilot is small. The fraction of people who are willing to go up to a pilot is also small. I've been flying for a year now early morning, mid day, late at night, public parks, middle of large cities, in forests, foreign countries, etc... And I have only had one business ask me to leave from the roof of a parking garage I launched from. That's it. I read these posts about remote id and often find myself wondering what the issue is.

I have to ask, have all the people on here commenting the worst case what ifs of someone coming to hunt you down been harassed by someone while flying? From my experience if I'm minding my own business photoing or videoing things other than people with the drone far away, no one cares and if they do care they have not approached me about it.

 

[NewAir2sMan]

Yes I have been harassed by both a Karen and a Ken not just too long ago. Hence why I joined in the comments when someone made a remark about possibly conceal carry, and then I got censored for it. Gotta love that

 

[Brojon]

Well flying a drone from your home is almost certainly the most common place to fly a drone. You also have an expectation of privacy inside your vehicle which is why LE need probable cause or a warrant to search a vehicle.

At any rate what you are talking about is privacy from illegal searches and seizures from the government. What we are talking about is the government requiring you to announce the exact location of your person in real time to the general public. Correct me if I am wrong but as far as I can see that is absolutely unprecedented in the history of the United States. We fear not the government in this case, but fellow citizens.

Actually if you're inside your vehicle privacy is not the operating principle - it is literally considered a part of your domicile and subject to property rights for search and seizure.

 

[franklinskite]

Maybe since we are going to use remote id, aeroscope will be disabled on our latest firmwares too?

I've only updated my Mavic firmware once, and I regretted it. I don't install dji updates. I simply don't trust the company.

 

[franklinskite]

The fraction of people who know of these tools to track down a drone pilot is small. The fraction of people who are willing to go up to a pilot is also small. I've been flying for a year now early morning, mid day, late at night, public parks, middle of large cities, in forests, foreign countries, etc... And I have only had one business ask me to leave from the roof of a parking garage I launched from. That's it. I read these posts about remote id and often find myself wondering what the issue is.

I have to ask, have all the people on here commenting the worst case what ifs of someone coming to hunt you down been harassed by someone while flying? From my experience if I'm minding my own business photoing or videoing things other than people with the drone far away, no one cares and if they do care they have not approached me about it.

The issue here, for me, isn't just someone tracking me down, etc. It's dji's overall lack of honesty and transparency, and lack of trustworthhiness, going on for years. As for your point, I only fly my quad in near complete secrecy. I don't stand in the open holding the controller.

 

[brett8883]

Actually if you're inside your vehicle privacy is not the operating principle - it is literally considered a part of your domicile and subject to property rights for search and seizure.

At any rate the reason the FAA wants us to transmit our data to the public is because it requires a warrant to intercept private communications, however, if the communication is broadcast publicly then it doesn’t. That’s the bottom line. It’s a way to circumvent our legal protections.

 

[3rdof5]

I’m sure you’re aware of the new RemoteID laws meant, as you say, to keep drones ‘subject to visibility at all times.’ There is currently no such requirement, as RemoteID kicks in later this year. Even so, the AIr Force just shot down a balloon and three ’objects unknown’ that certainly weren’t identifying themselves.

The other issue here is that no one knew about the unencrypted nature of the Aeroscope data stream from dji drones. It’s always nice to know what you’re flying.

This issue reminds me of the lack of encryption in the Anker / Eufy home security cameras.

Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras

Anker lied, ignored, deflected — but now, we have answers.

www.theverge.com

I will agree that the fact that the data is not encrypted should be a concern. I live in Canada and therefore subject to the laws of the Department of Transport and not the FAA, but I do understand the FAA laws and how they apply to any aircraft in their airspace. I can see the need to be able to identify aircraft and the pilot's location (remember Heathrow?). There are pilots who fly with disregard and or malicious intent and there always will be. So I can see why such features are implemented. Personally, I have never been harassed by anyone while flying, always the opposite, curious and fascinated people who want to learn more about these amazing machines. I honestly don't care if someone can track my location as I'm flying legally, and most importantly, SAFELY. Each to their own.

 

[brett8883]

The fraction of people who know of these tools to track down a drone pilot is small. The fraction of people who are willing to go up to a pilot is also small. I've been flying for a year now early morning, mid day, late at night, public parks, middle of large cities, in forests, foreign countries, etc... And I have only had one business ask me to leave from the roof of a parking garage I launched from. That's it. I read these posts about remote id and often find myself wondering what the issue is.

I have to ask, have all the people on here commenting the worst case what ifs of someone coming to hunt you down been harassed by someone while flying? From my experience if I'm minding my own business photoing or videoing things other than people with the drone far away, no one cares and if they do care they have not approached me about it.

Like you said you’ve only been flying for a year. I didn’t have my first until 2 years or so in. After 5 or 6 years of flying regularly you’ll almost certainly have at least a couple. All of mine have happened when I least expect it with no one else is around and that is quite unnerving. There’s lots a nut jobs out there and all it takes is one.

 

[AZDave]

The issue here, for me, isn't just someone tracking me down, etc. It's dji's overall lack of honesty and transparency, and lack of trustworthhiness, going on for years. As for your point, I only fly my quad in near complete secrecy. I don't stand in the open holding the controller.

Your cellphone and the apps on it are very likely of far more rational concern than your drone is, and updates to DJI firmware aren't likely to be any more worrisome than the original software is and yet you willingly expose yourself to that every time you fly your drone. I'm not saying that there is no reason for concern ... only that you don't sound very objective about it.

 

[lookout]

At any rate the reason the FAA wants us to transmit our data to the public is because it requires a warrant to intercept private communications, however, if the communication is broadcast publicly then it doesn’t. That’s the bottom line. It’s a way to circumvent our legal protections.

We need to get the legal protections back into the equation. If you notice they keep taking out of the equation on other matters, not just this one and quite a history of abusing it. People are saying encryption and that is quite a harbinger as well.

 

[AMann]

I’m sure you’re aware of the new RemoteID laws meant, as you say, to keep drones ‘subject to visibility at all times.’ There is currently no such requirement, as RemoteID kicks in later this year. Even so, the AIr Force just shot down a balloon and three ’objects unknown’ that certainly weren’t identifying themselves.

The other issue here is that no one knew about the unencrypted nature of the Aeroscope data stream from dji drones. It’s always nice to know what you’re flying.

This issue reminds me of the lack of encryption in the Anker / Eufy home security cameras.

Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras

Anker lied, ignored, deflected — but now, we have answers.

www.theverge.com

Uh, at least one of those balloons was identifiable had the government been tracking it’s APRS signal on the amateur radio band.

 

[DARKSeifer]

Hacker tool? It's exactly how RID it's supposed to work. You can download Drone Scanner and OpenDroneID for free from the Google Store and pick any DJI recent drone, and it's operator location in at least 2.7Km radius with nothing more than your cheap smartphone, not only in US, but in Europe too.

And yep, drone confrontations, as the karen apps increase in popularity, will sky rocket.