What’s going on? - Mini3 secretly spied on me

[power64]

DJI is likely recording video of all flights in or near restricted areas and uploading them to their server.

I flew my Mini3 Pro with an RC-N1 controller at the edge of a restricted zone within a warning area and the Go Fly App asked for permission to be in the restricted area, despite that I was still in the warning area zone. I clicked yes.

I flew the flight for 5min and only took a few still photos at low altitude. Upon landing, a little photo popped up on the DJI Fly Map. I clicked on it and a video played of the last 30 seconds of the flight until landing with my face and vehicle clearly captured in the video. The problem is that I never recorded a video during the flight!

Upon getting home, this video was not on the Micro-SD Card and was not logged in the Album section of DJI Fly. I looked back at the map, and the video pop-up link had also vanished.

I can only presume that it was uploaded to the DJI server to protect themselves against pilots flying inside restricted areas. The issue I have is that I did not know it was recording video of the flight, my face, my vehicle, or anything else that I don’t want on a server in China. I’m ok with a flight log, but a video of me is going too far.

Imagine if your laptop recorded a video of you, just in case you might need service or have a legal issue with it one day?

 

[4wd]

You are using the wrong app for mini 3 then.
The RC controller isn't able to go online except by phone hotspot and switches wifi off during a flight

 

[power64]

You are using the wrong app for mini 3 then.
The RC controller isn't able to go online except by phone hotspot and switches wifi off during a flight

It was the Mini3pro & RC-N1 controller connected to an iPhone running DJI Fly with LTE connectivity and WiFi off. Sorry, I accidentally called DJI Fly as DJI Go above.

 

[Hands Down]

I’m not sure what you experienced there. You would have agreed to this in the Terms of Use for the DJI Fly app:

“By using a verified account to unlock or self-authorize flight operations in locations that are categorized by DJI’s Geospatial Environment Online system as raising safety or security issues, you are authorizing DJI to disclose information about that decision to government authorities if DJI is required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with applicable laws, in response to a court order, judicial or other government subpoena, warrant or request, or to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or other governmental agencies.”

I’m not sure if that translates to consent to automatically capturing a video and sending it off to DJI or not…

 

[FLDave]

So, during the last 30 seconds the drone had to orient itself to your face and then to face your vehicle in the process of landing. Didn't you notice any strange orientation movements? Didn't you notice that it was "looking" right at your face?

 

[FLDave]

A lot of details are missing in this incident. If it's like the Air 2s the gimbal will tilt down during RTH as the drone establishes it's position over the takeoff location. The drone will also orient itself to face the same direction as takeoff. Just before landing the gimbal will go back to level. Even if no video recorded this will all be viewable on the screen.
Assuming the mini 3 works like the air 2s, the final view would be the same as the takeoff orientation, so no secret spying, just part of the landing process. I would guess the drone was facing you and your parked vehicle during takeoff.
Of course if this were not a RTH landing, then the orientation would have been under your direct control.

 

[power64]

So, during the last 30 seconds the drone had to orient itself to your face and then to face your vehicle in the process of landing. Didn't you notice any strange orientation movements? Didn't you notice that it was "looking" right at your face?

No, I flew it back to the launch location. Given that 99% of pilots fly from within 10m of where they launch, it will capture you, and anyone nearby in the video frame. The Mini3 was controllable the entire flight.

 

[Kilrah]

Logs and the "highlights" they contain are stored locally on your device, and would only end up on DJI's servers if you synced your flight data with their cloud.

 

[power64]

A lot of details are missing in this incident. If it's like the Air 2s the gimbal will tilt down during RTH as the drone establishes it's position over the takeoff location. The drone will also orient itself to face the same direction as takeoff. Just before landing the gimbal will go back to level. Even if no video recorded this will all be viewable on the screen.
Assuming the mini 3 works like the air 2s, the final view would be the same as the takeoff orientation, so no secret spying, just part of the landing process. I would guess the drone was facing you and your parked vehicle during takeoff.
Of course if this were not a RTH landing, then the orientation would have been under your direct control.

The was no RTH activated.

The Mini3 Pro was controllable for the entire flight. The unauthorized 15-30 second video recording (while the Mini3 was still in photo only mode) at the end of the flight was outside of my control, and a GPS dot was placed on the DJI Fly map with a link to the unauthorized video. Additionally, the video magically disappeared or uploaded to DJI later, which is a concern why it was captured in the first place.

 

[Kilrah]

Can't talk directly about the mini3, but on other recent DJI devices the "Find My Drone" function always records the last 30 seconds of each flight to help in seeing what happened/find it in case of a crash. Gets overwritten on the next flight etc of course.

 

[Meta4]

I can only presume that it was uploaded to the DJI server to protect themselves against pilots flying inside restricted areas.

Your assumption seems most unlikely.
The video would have no use doing what you've suggested.

 

[Lastrexking]

So, you think DJI sends secret videos to China for data it could easily get from Google Maps - or, its own spy satellites? OK.

 

[4wd]

So, you think DJI sends secret videos to China for data it could easily get from Google Maps - or, its own spy satellites? OK.

They need to read his number plate and associate with his face. For reasons.

 

[Zbip57]

They need to read his number plate and associate with his face. For reasons.

Huh?

So you think DJI has some sort of automated spy feature that, every time upon landing, secretly searches out to photograph/video your licence plate and face? For what possible purpose? And how would they know if that licence plate belongs to the pilot, not some other bystander?

You know they don't need any of that to identify you, eh? You need to register an account with DJI, including all sorts of identifiers like your email and cellphone number, before your drone can be initialized. You need to be logged into your DJI account when flying, or be restricted to very limited capability.

To unlock a restricted GEO zone, like the original poster said, you need to apply via the unlock procedure. They already know who you are via your registration.

DJI is likely recording video [...]
I can only presume that it was uploaded to the DJI server [...]

Highly unlikely, but you can presume anything you want.

Try reproducing the situation using the same steps, but run a screen recorder this time.

 

[Frank Dracman]

If you think that the OP's fanciful assumptions are what actually happens, and would provide any useful information, you have a loose grip on reality.
Post s #9 & #11 gave a realistic explanation for wjhat confused the OP.

The only assumption I see was made by you.
I never agreed with the OP
In response to a couple of post, I said "dji and communist china will collect data any way possible" and I stand by that.
Typically a company doesn't get put on the US Department of Commerce Entity List because of the good they're doing for the US.
Most people know how big China is, well they have over 200 million servailence cameras 1 for every 7 people. Their video data collection is 20 years ahead of anyone else (including the u.s.). They use it with AI and facial recognition to "keep things right". If you remember how Communism works if China told dji to collect data dji would collect data.
If you don't believe a Communist ountry who is openly involved in wide-scale human rights abuses within their own country or a manufacturer of the surveillance drones used for Chinese detention camps, if you don't belive China wouldn't use any means possible to gather data to defeat their enemy, either you are REALLY naive or you may have a loose grip on reality,

 

[Meta4]

The only assumption I see was made by you.

The OP assumed that DJI was spying on him, that the video was uploaded by the app and that somehow the last 30 seconds of his flight was collected for potential espionage value.

if you don't belive China wouldn't use any means possible to gather data to defeat their enemy, either you are REALLY naive or you may have a loose grip on reality,

And if you believe that random clips of recreational drone video is going to be of any value to defeat an enemy, you need to get some perspective.

 

[SkyeHigh]

The OP assumed that DJI was spying on him, that the video was uploaded by the app and that somehow the last 30 seconds of his flight was collected for potential espionage value.


And if you believe that random clips of recreational drone video is going to be of any value to defeat an enemy, you need to get some perspective.

And I thought McCarthyism ended long ago.

 

[Lastrexking]

They need to read his number plate and associate with his face. For reasons.

Happens to me everyday, but they have the nerve to send spies on buses disguised as tourists - and each one of them has a camera. The nerve! Probably the same for you as you're in Yorkshire too.

 

[Jagerbomb52]

Happens to me everyday, but they have the nerve to send spies on buses disguised as tourists - and each one of them has a camera. The nerve! Probably the same for you as you're in Yorkshire too.

Yep, same here in northern Ontario they dropped off a buss load of them all with cameras at our local ice cream shack. Think they were trying to get the recipe to the Maple & Black Raspberry Chip ice cream they sell.

 

[Lastrexking]

Yep, same here in northern Ontario they dropped off a buss load of them all with cameras at our local ice cream shack. Think they were trying to get the recipe to the Maple & Black Raspberry Chip ice cream they sell.

I hope you covered your license plate!