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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

#231
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't want illegal aliens in my country. They're criminals. Norway doesn't allow it, we control our borders. We could do a better job, but at least we don't have a backlog the size of the US'

Glad that Norway has the immigration problem solved *eye roll* Tell me more about how humans are criminals for existing? You hate the idea of someone standing on your piece of dirt without your express say-so that your preference is to live under an umbrella of fear and suspicion of your neighbors? Forgive me, this is not how I want to live. I wonder how many Norwegians who settled in Minnesota were illegal immigrant…

Entering a country illegally is a crime. We have borders. You are letting yourself be emotionally manipulated into suicidal empathy.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#232
post #3

It'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've been saying it for ages, but a decent easily available western equivalent to the ESP32 (meaning easy WiFi) needs to happen - Texas Instruments SimpleLink CC32xx (CC3220 / CC3235) - TI CC3235MODA module - Renesas DA16200 - Microchip PIC32MZ-W1 - Microchip WFI32 module family - Silicon Labs SiWx917 / SiWG917 - Silicon Labs SiWx917Y module - Nordic Semiconductor nRF7001/7002 WiFi 6 IC - Use with nRF52, nRF53 or n…

> These solutions are priced well for commercial and industrial solutions at scale.

Translation: they're expensive, and getting them working involves jumping through hoops more complex than simply getting boards off Amazon and launching VS Code. They aren't equivalent, and the sneering isn't helping.

It is failing to understand this that opens the door to DJI and Bambu, who unsurprisingly prioritize user experience and predictability, which is a major factor in why in open competition they keep wiping the floor with everyone.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#233
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all an adversary has to do is fubar your own domestic supply chain "All you need to do to defeat the US is completely destroy its entire industrial base"

Your position is completely untenable here and relies on it being easier to destroy multiple 'industrial bases' plus the US drone industry rather than your straw man of just the "entire" US industrial base. Even going off your theory that the US drone industry is not easily sabotaged, it can't possibly be easier to sabotage the US drone industry plus all the import pathways (which you would otherwise have to re-estab…

I am not arguing it is easier to destroy the world's industrial capacity than just the US industrial capacity. I am saying that in the situation where you have so utterly devastated the US mainland that it is incapable of producing drones, the war is over. If you defeat the US then you defeat the US.

Of course I am rather dismissive of the claim that this is a small feat. I accuse you of not fully thinking through what exactly it would take to fubar domestic drone production.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#234
post #2

Seeing 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…

Interesting that so many here are speculating that this ban is to stop "freedom fighters" in the US and not the obvious case that the US has wanted to reduce dependence on China in areas of critical technology. Drones are not going away in the US, they will just not be made by their primary political adversary. Let's not be hyperbolic, the US is nowhere close to having a revolution or civil War. People need to stop g…

I will believe this argument when everything else from domestic appliances to phones is not also made by “their primary political adversary”.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#235
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I mentioned "pretense" in the sense of US pretending to be the good guy.

What do you mean by pretense? The word pretense to me means “we’re gonna actually try this and let’s see how it goes” The United States has literally never done that and we know that because internal documentations for pretty much anything always have some kind of American benefit Nexus it is not based on any type of foundational belief that transcends the concept of “we’re gonna do whatever the people who are the lo…

The definition of pretense is (from Google):

an attempt to make something that is not the case appear true. E.g. "his anger is masked by a pretence that all is well"

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did murder a woman, but I agree that one murder is far short of a civil war. Even understanding that a single murder can be the spark that starts a fire, I don't think we're even close to that kind of scenario (contrary to the hyperbolic rhetoric which has become normalized from both sides over the past 10ish years.)

She tried to run over a police officer.

I don't agree, but I think there is some reasonable room for disagreement. I think she was merely being reckless, and the shooter didn't earnestly fear for his life but thought he'd be able to argue he was.

In either case, it should go before a jury.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#237
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 develope…

> DJI collects a massive amount of telemetry data and terrain data At first I found it hard to believe that this is data they wouldn't get more reliably, more extensively from a satellite. But then I imagine, if you were a bad actor, you wouldn't want all the video, all the exact terrain data, etc, but maybe only that near certain points of interest like energy infrastructure, transportation, etc. So this, paired wit…

And China has its own satellites anyhow.

I feel like blocking DJI is just politics of “we have have to do something, anything” and “hey look, we did things” even though those things are irrelevant.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#238
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> all an adversary has to do is fubar your own domestic supply chain "All you need to do to defeat the US is completely destroy its entire industrial base"

Are you suggesting to attack China, as that's the US' industrial base

Can you explain to me the thought process of how you got from my comment to yours?

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#239
post #3

It'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…

Bambu was made by a bunch of former DJI executives, and copied a lot of their dubious business practices.

Indeed, but they also took the magic part of their product development philosophy of focusing on making the whole end-to-end process for users absolutely solid, which both companies do better than anyone else in those segments.

Re: The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones

#240
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a revolution narrative to criticize this ban. It's already bad policy on its own merits: it freezes innovation, hurts hobbyists and small businesses etc

These things are true, but they don't explain why the u.s. government would make it a priority to ban such technologies. saying "well, republicans are bad so they do bad things" robs us the ability to understand the world.

The problem with your statement is there's no way to know - the reality is it could have been a bribe or lack of a bribe; it could have been an actual foreign policy decision based on facts; or some other reason. It's not hard to come up with reasons why it was done, but with this administration there's no way to know whatsoever unless you actually know someone on the inside.
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