This biggest question in my mind if let’s say this is a real security issue is how come this ban only applies to future drones from DJI, why not all DJI drones that are already in use in us because they are not by any chance less risk then upcoming ones. That alone tells me there really is something really rotten behind this just to eliminate competition from DJI on the us drone marked.
I agree that there is definitely some underhanded corruption going on here. But I also want to know for sure that our drones aren't feeding a hostile enemy country info that can be used against us. Once we prove that, I'll feel better.
@@TheDroneDad But until we see any credible prove Ill be skeptical about the legislation, being anything else than just to eliminate competition on the us market for companies in US making drones at the expense of us citizens in form of more cost, also the same for law enforcement, rescue services and other services that rely so much on drones now on days. We will see I hope if there is truly something behind this security threat statement or not. One more thing is that is nothing going on when the drone is not powered, I cant imagined where that idea came from and based on what. can easily be proofed if it is in fact like that but nothing has been proved or shown to support that claim. Everything sounds coming from people highly motivated by conspiracy theory thoughts or they are corrupted politicians working in favor of companies that the public end up paying for in many ways like more costly drones and or less technical quality compared to DJI drones.
A ban on existing drones would be physically difficult to enforce, and politically unpalatable since the US is founded on property rights. Someone may fight to the death to keep their property. The goal is to reduce risk, incrementally over time, not eliminate it immediately. Many dangers to National Security are regularly and intentionally overlooked by the US to allow their citizens certain degrees of Freedom. Grounding existing DJI drones means more sales for US manufacturers, so this actually works out in the opposite way that you think it does.
@@joicam123who knows about drones doing in things whilst off, but there has been proven evidence of other electrical devices pinging and sending info back to a third party service for malicious use. It’s real and serious. However I agree, with such a huge decision like this must come with a very huge amount of proven evidence along with it.
@@TheDroneDad All too true. I consider it a good sign when someone is willing to consider that they might have missed something, and they are willing to reconsider their position as a result. We lose a LOT when we all get too set in our ways and become unwilling to even consider other possibilities. Our times are challenging and there is a lot of static in the way of our obtaining a clear picture of what is happening, who is doing (or not doing) it, and what it means for all of us. We certainly seem to be living in the "Interesting Times" that many have referenced in the past, and I for one would like them to be a little less interesting... :)
My question is this. What drones will we use at that point? Skydio announced about a year ago they were exiting the consumer market. So if not DJI or skydio. What brands are left that actually produce quality products that do the jobs we need them to do?
That is the million dollar question. Currently, there aren't any. Not that are American made AND do the things we need them to do. The ones out there aren't at the same level.
-Drones are already banned on ALL us military bases. -Consumer drones (dji) have long range and the FAA does not trust its citizens with this capability (flying near airports and such) - if cyber security is an issue the richest gov on the planet should be able to reverse engineer what dji drones talk to.
1:42 That's unlikely. It is beyond unlikely that my drone uploads pictures and GPS at ANY time, operating or not, and certainly not when it is off. Sometimes the battery is removed sometimes not. The controller has no internet connectivity most of the time (I can enable WiFi if there's a Wifi signal available) and the drone talks only to the controller. HOWEVER there is an option to automatically upload flight data to DJI. I cannot think of a reason or use for this but it seems to have something to do with warranty or replacement of lost drones. Needless to say, I do not automatically upload data and I do not have the extended warranty.
jeesh. decided this morning to buy my first drone. wanted a sub$200 drone, then wanted built in screen, so i stretched my budget and got a DJI mini3 w screen. Then 10 minutes later see all this about a BAN!?! now what should i do?just wanted something for recreation, grandkids, etc...
@mattb7406 yeah. We will have to see how DJI is able to handle that. Might be better to get a personal property insurance policy on it so if it breaks or crashes you just get the money from insurance. Then you can buy another drone as long as the older models are still available.
@@TheDroneDad Disagree. Nothing prevents legislation from becoming retroactive, especially given some implied components in the very recent decision by the Sup Ct. in the Loper Bright/Relentless cases. Further, once even a prospective only ban is installed, it would be reasonable to expect DJI would cease firmware updates, repair services, parts supplies, adding new features, etc. for all its extant product in the US and the resale value of any such product would be severely diminished. The "Your current drones won't be affected" schtick is just your speculation.
My understanding is this will ban future sales, not ground the current drones. And the full ban won't take affect for, I think, 5 years. If this was a true threat to national security I would think drones would be grounded and sales would be banned immediately. Just a thought (and maybe I have the details wrong, but that is what I have heard from the sources I trust)
I actually love your take on this. Thank you for sharing. I do have one question for you. What proof would you need to see and also if proof is never shown to you, will you just take what the US government is telling you for fact and handover your drone a.k.a. stop using DJI I think for the most part every pilot agrees with you if there is proven facts show it to us so we can be on your side and stop using DJI, but our government refuses to show us CONCRETE proof!!! and that’s very upsetting. I honestly don’t think we will be shown any concrete proof because our government seems to think we are peons and idiots and won’t be able to comprehend what’s in front of us. So it becomes a dictatorship tell us we can no longer use a particular Drone and that’s the end of it….smh!
Great comment! And yeah, I won't be just stopping using the best drones out there if I'm not shown or told exactly what is going on, or at least have a 3rd party prove that there is something in the drones that make them a threat. But I also do understand that they may not be able to tell US what that threat is, but allowing someone else qualified to verify their findings needs to happen.
You think DJI can track you, communicate with "the cloud" and take photos without power or an internet connect? Yeah; I'd love to see evidence of that.
Prove to me that my drone is sending information to China when off . Firstly my battery would deplete while sending information. So that has never happen to my drone Come up with proof that this is happening. I personally think it's crap. Just a way to get rid of your opponents and justify the crappy US made drones.
I don't think it's about security. If that is the case, why just DJI at the beginning of the proposal? Why just drones? We get a great deal of our tech from China, so drones ain't the only thing that can be used too collect info.
EXACTLY. Between the physical phones themselves and the many apps we voluntarily hand over our data on, you would think this would give foreign countries everything they need and then some.
Extremely polarizing and vague. We've got an army of nerds, hackers, developers and general comp-sci experts. If there was any evidence of this we'd know by now publicly. I'm almost tempted to run wireshark tests out of spite to disprove this fiction. But even then people like yourself would look the other way and find reasons to jump the train of baseless suspicion.
I would WELCOME verifiable proof in either direction on this so please do so! Obviously I want to be to total BS so we don't have to quit buying DJI drones. So they need to de-classify whatever the committees are asking for so we can get to the bottom of these claims.
My phone tells china where I am at all times. I use my phone with my drone. A drone is a toy and we are America. In America the bigger the better. In drones the higher and faster is better.
Bingo. This is Skydio buying more lobbyists and they've also announced that they're dropping out of the consumer market and they're strictly going to serve the military. Skydio got their butts kicked by DJI on the consumer side and they're just all butt hurt about it.
Android phones are based on open source software, so they are safe Apple phones are built by a US-based corporation, and if Apple does something malicious the US government can invade Cupertino It may be potentially possible to engineer hidden functionality into the hardware, but that is risky for the perpetrator because the hardware can usually be easily disassembled and the evidence of malice exposed. Then the US has justification to attack you. With software, the malicious payload can run, and then delete itself without a trace.
Just sharing what the letter said. I have a hard time believing it uploads WHILE it is off, but I could see a line of code put into their software that trigger data stored until a network is detected.
@@TheDroneDad I understand those are not your words, but they make no sense. I know photos are uploaded to dji without your consent tho, there is even a video with many thousands of those photos leaked on yt. You must have seen how DJI rebranded their drones ( Aloft) after painting them green to comply with the new rules.
Is your dji connected to your local home wifi ? Does it have a sim card ? Is it permanently connected to your phone? Let me guess: no, no and no. Also does it always have a battery inside, when unused? I guess 99% dont store the battery in the drone. So how is dji surposed to send any kind of data to chinese servers? Especially when it's off. Even when it's on and flying with your phone connected: Do you know how much data that would be from the 4K pictures and videos? Your phone would tell you the dji app has been unsing tons of data, if you checked it somewere. Pretty far fetched that dji is collecting and spying. Be the way, every telsa is spying on its surroundings. But yeah, for some it's okay, others it's a threat.
You have to connect in order to get software updates, and large uploads/downloads can be masked by those updates. It likely wouldn't apply to all devices, and would only apply if GPS records match to certain points of interest. Even without large video uploads, if the drone uploads GPS records and user info that is still potentially useful. If Tesla does something bad, the US government can seize their factories. The same leverage doesn't exist against DJI.
@karlmadsen3179 so there's no way to prove they AREN'T doing the things alleged? We couldn't look at their coding to see if they hid instances to upload info if certain criteria are met or not? Like store certain info until drone reconnects to a network to allow uploading? I'm not saying they are doing that, but being allowed to look at their code would help eliminate that option.
No apology needed! Since this video posted, I still haven't seen or heard any justification for the ban, so it's REALLY hard to get behind Congress on this. We can all agree China is doing some nasty things to gather info on America, but the citizens need to be in on at least SOME of the information backing it up so we can get on board. Without that, I'm gonna keep buying DJI.
Cell phones are made in China. You carry it everywhere. It has a camera and GPS and constant communications. But lets pick on drones. Wise up dude.
Doing a 180 on your opinion…. They got to you….
We get it.
You can be like one of us, too...
One of us. One of us. One of us.
This biggest question in my mind if let’s say this is a real security issue is how come this ban only applies to future drones from DJI, why not all DJI drones that are already in use in us because they are not by any chance less risk then upcoming ones.
That alone tells me there really is something really rotten behind this just to eliminate competition from DJI on the us drone marked.
I agree that there is definitely some underhanded corruption going on here. But I also want to know for sure that our drones aren't feeding a hostile enemy country info that can be used against us. Once we prove that, I'll feel better.
@@TheDroneDad exactly, my thinking also.
@@TheDroneDad But until we see any credible prove Ill be skeptical about the legislation, being anything else than just to eliminate competition on the us market for companies in US making drones at the expense of us citizens in form of more cost, also the same for law enforcement, rescue services and other services that rely so much on drones now on days.
We will see I hope if there is truly something behind this security threat statement or not.
One more thing is that is nothing going on when the drone is not powered, I cant imagined where that idea came from and based on what. can easily be proofed if it is in fact like that but nothing has been proved or shown to support that claim.
Everything sounds coming from people highly motivated by conspiracy theory thoughts or they are corrupted politicians working in favor of companies that the public end up paying for in many ways like more costly drones and or less technical quality compared to DJI drones.
A ban on existing drones would be physically difficult to enforce, and politically unpalatable since the US is founded on property rights.
Someone may fight to the death to keep their property. The goal is to reduce risk, incrementally over time, not eliminate it immediately. Many dangers to National Security are regularly and intentionally overlooked by the US to allow their citizens certain degrees of Freedom.
Grounding existing DJI drones means more sales for US manufacturers, so this actually works out in the opposite way that you think it does.
@@joicam123who knows about drones doing in things whilst off, but there has been proven evidence of other electrical devices pinging and sending info back to a third party service for malicious use. It’s real and serious. However I agree, with such a huge decision like this must come with a very huge amount of proven evidence along with it.
It's in a case so the camera can't see, battery is out so it has no power to transmit anything. All about US drone manufacturers.
I really hope you're right and this report is baseless.
You know it
I think your position is reasonable, given the facts and speculation we have at this point. I'm taking a wait and see approach as well.
Thanks! I knew I'd get some people not loving my new position on this, but we don't live in a culture that often changes its stance on a topic.
@@TheDroneDad All too true. I consider it a good sign when someone is willing to consider that they might have missed something, and they are willing to reconsider their position as a result. We lose a LOT when we all get too set in our ways and become unwilling to even consider other possibilities. Our times are challenging and there is a lot of static in the way of our obtaining a clear picture of what is happening, who is doing (or not doing) it, and what it means for all of us. We certainly seem to be living in the "Interesting Times" that many have referenced in the past, and I for one would like them to be a little less interesting... :)
Dumb
My question is this. What drones will we use at that point? Skydio announced about a year ago they were exiting the consumer market. So if not DJI or skydio. What brands are left that actually produce quality products that do the jobs we need them to do?
That is the million dollar question. Currently, there aren't any. Not that are American made AND do the things we need them to do. The ones out there aren't at the same level.
Hi
I always take my battery out and pop the drone in a pouch
Smart. I do the same.
-Drones are already banned on ALL us military bases.
-Consumer drones (dji) have long range and the FAA does not trust its citizens with this capability (flying near airports and such)
- if cyber security is an issue the richest gov on the planet should be able to reverse engineer what dji drones talk to.
drones have firmware that wont let them fly near airports and no fly zones.
same science is being used in my iphone ive heard ,dont see no one giving up their phones
1:42 That's unlikely. It is beyond unlikely that my drone uploads pictures and GPS at ANY time, operating or not, and certainly not when it is off. Sometimes the battery is removed sometimes not. The controller has no internet connectivity most of the time (I can enable WiFi if there's a Wifi signal available) and the drone talks only to the controller.
HOWEVER there is an option to automatically upload flight data to DJI. I cannot think of a reason or use for this but it seems to have something to do with warranty or replacement of lost drones. Needless to say, I do not automatically upload data and I do not have the extended warranty.
What about Google Earth?
jeesh. decided this morning to buy my first drone. wanted a sub$200 drone, then wanted built in screen, so i stretched my budget and got a DJI mini3 w screen. Then 10 minutes later see all this about a BAN!?! now what should i do?just wanted something for recreation, grandkids, etc...
Your current drones won't be affected. This is an attempt to prohibit DJI from getting approvals for later models. Your Mini 3 will be good to go!
@@TheDroneDad thanks. i guess my worry is the refresh replacements over two years...
@mattb7406 yeah. We will have to see how DJI is able to handle that. Might be better to get a personal property insurance policy on it so if it breaks or crashes you just get the money from insurance. Then you can buy another drone as long as the older models are still available.
@@TheDroneDad Disagree. Nothing prevents legislation from becoming retroactive, especially given some implied components in the very recent decision by the Sup Ct. in the Loper Bright/Relentless cases. Further, once even a prospective only ban is installed, it would be reasonable to expect DJI would cease firmware updates, repair services, parts supplies, adding new features, etc. for all its extant product in the US and the resale value of any such product would be severely diminished. The "Your current drones won't be affected" schtick is just your speculation.
@thatghost7253 "I am an innocent man." 😎
My understanding is this will ban future sales, not ground the current drones. And the full ban won't take affect for, I think, 5 years. If this was a true threat to national security I would think drones would be grounded and sales would be banned immediately. Just a thought (and maybe I have the details wrong, but that is what I have heard from the sources I trust)
That's true. And a good point. Just wish we had more clarity about what exactly is being alleged.
@@TheDroneDad The fact that we don't have ANY real evidence demonstrating the security threat tells the whole rotten story!
I'd be interested to know if these drones are banned in any other country where drones are used.
Very good question. I haven't heard of any.
@@TheDroneDad then it's unprovoked I'd say. Who knows I feel they'll vote in dji's favor. 🤞
@liamattley2010 I hope you're right. Uploading a small update about it now. Give my poor signal time. :)
Until hard evidence is provided I vote for DJI. This ban is dumb.
I actually love your take on this. Thank you for sharing. I do have one question for you. What proof would you need to see and also if proof is never shown to you, will you just take what the US government is telling you for fact and handover your drone a.k.a. stop using DJI I think for the most part every pilot agrees with you if there is proven facts show it to us so we can be on your side and stop using DJI, but our government refuses to show us CONCRETE proof!!! and that’s very upsetting. I honestly don’t think we will be shown any concrete proof because our government seems to think we are peons and idiots and won’t be able to comprehend what’s in front of us. So it becomes a dictatorship tell us we can no longer use a particular Drone and that’s the end of it….smh!
Great comment! And yeah, I won't be just stopping using the best drones out there if I'm not shown or told exactly what is going on, or at least have a 3rd party prove that there is something in the drones that make them a threat. But I also do understand that they may not be able to tell US what that threat is, but allowing someone else qualified to verify their findings needs to happen.
@@TheDroneDad AGREED
You think DJI can track you, communicate with "the cloud" and take photos without power or an internet connect? Yeah; I'd love to see evidence of that.
Personally, I'd love to see evidence that they AREN'T, but I really just wanna know either way so we can put this to bed.
Without power, batteries removed, the drone can't send gps or other data. Your phone collects more data.
ok - lets say all you say is true - Please recommend the USA made drone companies stocks I need to buy now please - thanks!
That would be a lucrative investment, for sure!
First Responders caught the Senate's ear
It is BS. A drone will not transmit when it is off.
Have you taken one apart and know that for a fact? Because that information would be very helpful right now.
@@TheDroneDad no power
No battery in it when I’m not using it.
Only an utter buffoon would believe this because it ain't transmitting shit without a battery.
Prove to me that my drone is sending information to China when off . Firstly my battery would deplete while sending information. So that has never happen to my drone Come up with proof that this is happening. I personally think it's crap. Just a way to get rid of your opponents and justify the crappy US made drones.
I don't think it's about security. If that is the case, why just DJI at the beginning of the proposal? Why just drones? We get a great deal of our tech from China, so drones ain't the only thing that can be used too collect info.
My take: it this were really a national security risk it would have already been shut down.
what's with the weird "background" voice at 3:00?
Points to you, because I didn't even hear that until I published the video, and for the life of me I can't tell what it is. Ghosts, I guess.
@@TheDroneDad Probably inserted by a Chinese agent 🤣
What about our stooped smart phones all made in China.
EXACTLY. Between the physical phones themselves and the many apps we voluntarily hand over our data on, you would think this would give foreign countries everything they need and then some.
Well smartphones can't fly autonomously at least... Same logic for why BYD is banned.
Extremely polarizing and vague. We've got an army of nerds, hackers, developers and general comp-sci experts. If there was any evidence of this we'd know by now publicly. I'm almost tempted to run wireshark tests out of spite to disprove this fiction. But even then people like yourself would look the other way and find reasons to jump the train of baseless suspicion.
I would WELCOME verifiable proof in either direction on this so please do so! Obviously I want to be to total BS so we don't have to quit buying DJI drones. So they need to de-classify whatever the committees are asking for so we can get to the bottom of these claims.
Feel the hatred… do it! *emperor palpatine voice*
P.S. would congress consider actual evidence? Maybe?
The risk is there regardless of what you find today, because DJI can always just push a new software update and change everything instantly.
Ban them at the border or use by gov entities.
My phone tells china where I am at all times. I use my phone with my drone. A drone is a toy and we are America. In America the bigger the better. In drones the higher and faster is better.
no one loses except skydio
Fingers crossed.
Bingo. This is Skydio buying more lobbyists and they've also announced that they're dropping out of the consumer market and they're strictly going to serve the military. Skydio got their butts kicked by DJI on the consumer side and they're just all butt hurt about it.
Too many mights, ifs and coulds. DJI has already addressed that bs long ago.
Maybe you should give up your cell phone also.
Very true. We give up way too much information, and that's just what we offer up VOLUNTARILY.
Android phones are based on open source software, so they are safe
Apple phones are built by a US-based corporation, and if Apple does something malicious the US government can invade Cupertino
It may be potentially possible to engineer hidden functionality into the hardware, but that is risky for the perpetrator because the hardware can usually be easily disassembled and the evidence of malice exposed. Then the US has justification to attack you.
With software, the malicious payload can run, and then delete itself without a trace.
Lost me and this story credibility when you said "Drones are able to upload GPS information and photos even when they are off".
Just sharing what the letter said. I have a hard time believing it uploads WHILE it is off, but I could see a line of code put into their software that trigger data stored until a network is detected.
@@TheDroneDad I understand those are not your words, but they make no sense. I know photos are uploaded to dji without your consent tho, there is even a video with many thousands of those photos leaked on yt.
You must have seen how DJI rebranded their drones ( Aloft) after painting them green to comply with the new rules.
Skydio spent $560000 lobbying in 2023.
and they use NVidia components LOL
omg
Not for nothing cell phones do exactly the same thing
Is your dji connected to your local home wifi ?
Does it have a sim card ?
Is it permanently connected to your phone?
Let me guess: no, no and no.
Also does it always have a battery inside, when unused?
I guess 99% dont store the battery in the drone.
So how is dji surposed to send any kind of data to chinese servers? Especially when it's off.
Even when it's on and flying with your phone connected:
Do you know how much data that would be from the 4K pictures and videos?
Your phone would tell you the dji app has been unsing tons of data, if you checked it somewere.
Pretty far fetched that dji is collecting and spying.
Be the way, every telsa is spying on its surroundings. But yeah, for some it's okay, others it's a threat.
Great points. And I agree with all of them. I just want someone to definitively show Congress they AREN'T doing the things alleged.
@@TheDroneDad Kinda hard to prove a negative sometimes impossible.
You have to connect in order to get software updates, and large uploads/downloads can be masked by those updates. It likely wouldn't apply to all devices, and would only apply if GPS records match to certain points of interest. Even without large video uploads, if the drone uploads GPS records and user info that is still potentially useful.
If Tesla does something bad, the US government can seize their factories. The same leverage doesn't exist against DJI.
@@TheDroneDadYou can't prove a negative. That's a logic trap that many fall into.
@karlmadsen3179 so there's no way to prove they AREN'T doing the things alleged? We couldn't look at their coding to see if they hid instances to upload info if certain criteria are met or not? Like store certain info until drone reconnects to a network to allow uploading? I'm not saying they are doing that, but being allowed to look at their code would help eliminate that option.
Sorry but I believe that it is a BS!!!
No apology needed! Since this video posted, I still haven't seen or heard any justification for the ban, so it's REALLY hard to get behind Congress on this. We can all agree China is doing some nasty things to gather info on America, but the citizens need to be in on at least SOME of the information backing it up so we can get on board. Without that, I'm gonna keep buying DJI.
Dude if anyone wanted intel of our country they could get it this just bs what about Chinese security cameras? Grow a brain
Simple, buy an American made drone with no Chinese parts in it and leave the rest of the world to go about its business without American interference.
You are the problem
Thanks for commenting. Twice.