Not surprising. Asymmetrically-powerful personal technology is a threat to the State's monopoly of force and power. Same reason for US juristictions banning hardware "hacking" devices, firearms manufacturing, 3D printing - hell, even building and maintaining a PC is becoming untenable. The writing is on the wall for what is next.
The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
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Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#12It's this now, but 3D printers, Meshtastic, and the ESP32 all seem likely to catch the ire of the administration if some deal is not done in the coming years. I've been saying it for ages, but a decent easily available western equivalent to the ESP32 (meaning easy WiFi) needs to happen, and until it does there will be a giant hole in the middle of the entire maker universe, which increasingly acts as the prototyping…
I agree on the need to create an ESP32 equivalent. But the ESP32 doesn't really correlate to DJI here. DJI collects a massive amount of telemetry data and terrain data, forces the average user to upload this data, and isn't exactly forthcoming about what is collected or how it is used.
An ESP32 can, for the most part, be fully audited in what it is sending. Yes, the wireless drivers are binary blobs, but the developer has extensive control over the device, and it is easy to monitor/filter/firewall the data sent.
3D printers, as a general category, are also more similar to the ESP32 than to DJI.
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#13Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#14I'm in favor of tighter regulation on drone imports, both for national security reasons and to try to jumpstart a US drone industry.
Not allowing _any_ foreign made components, however, is insane, as is not even auditing DJI when they didn't put up a fight. They have to know they're just killing the small drone industry completely.
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#15Not surprising. Asymmetrically-powerful personal technology is a threat to the State's monopoly of force and power. Same reason for US juristictions banning hardware "hacking" devices, firearms manufacturing, 3D printing - hell, even building and maintaining a PC is becoming untenable. The writing is on the wall for what is next.
This. Can't have a hand grenade. A peasant might take the whole entry team with them if they had one of those.
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#16News next week : "Donald Trump Jr opens US Drone company with exclusive import license from China."
> DJI responded publicly that month that they had nothing to hide, and subsequently spent a year trying to convince the U.S. government to begin the audit. But no federal agency even began
There's your answer. There was never any concern over Americans data being sent to China.
Also they didn't "Follow through", they simply let the clock run out without even evaluating DJI's reponse to the claims.
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#17Alternative headline: The US Government Banned All New Foreign Drones. As every foreign-made drone is now on the FCC’s “Covered List.
Source? Tfa says only new models of drones are banned.
You're correct. The ban targets the supply chain and future imports/sales, not retroactive possession. New foreign drones cannot be certified for sale in the US market going forward. Existing drones you already own aren't being confiscated or made illegal to fly
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#18Seeing how drone warfare has become the new hot front in 21st century conflicts like Ukraine, it's hard not to speculate on the implications of this as political unrest continues to rise in the U.S. It's no secret that the current U.S. regime views a sizeable portion of its own civilian citizens as enemy combatants. They are already shooting people in the face and not even putting up a pretense of acting shocked at t…
Merely the documentary function of small drones is a threat to the current US government - their game changing effect on the battlefield in Ukraine is (one hopes) less relevant here. Just the threat of people taking pictures of what's happening is enough for them to restrict flight over an entire large city when ICE moves in.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10/02/faa-drone-zone-...
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#19I wonder how long until Canada gets pressured into doing the same, just like we always do?
I haven't kept up to date but does the US have that much more leverage over Canada anymore? Last I checked we have tariffs on most exports, including crude, wood, steel and aluminium (probably missing a bunch). General goods are tariff'ed at 35% while China is tariff'ed at 47.5%.
They could get us to ban DJI for sure but I'd assume it'd be more through carrot than stick, because at this point we've been pretty consistently beaten for the last year.
Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones
#20I wonder how much this is because the war in Ukraine showed that drone manufacturing capacity is a strategic asset?
The administration best set about seizing the means of production.