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Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

aljazeera.com

71–80 of 195 posts

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#71

The Ukrainian-Russo war has shown the military the power of offensive drones. You think they are going to allow civilians to own such powerful potential weapons in the future? I think offensive drone warfare is just scratching the surface. I can think of a few modifications to drones, I've yet to see in Ukraine, that could increase their lethality 10x.

They're certainly an optimal delivery device for biological and chemical weapons, and I imagine it's only a matter of time before such programs are revived by various powers, given the current breakdown in international treaty regimes governing what I'd call the four horsepeople of the apocalypse: nuclear, chemical, biological and cyber warfare.

I know you were talking about conventional warfare, but unless your apocalypse-causing list includes inflation upfront, it's not complete.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#72
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GPS might be helpful for drones (though it should be on the drone, not your phone) but there is absolutely no reason to use it for something like a phone stabilizer, which it absolutely requires and will not let you continue unless you turn it on. It’s for the flight restriction system. Won’t let you fly near schools, power plants, airports etc.

The drone can refuse to takeoff or fly into restricted space based just on its own GPS. It absolutely does not require to track the pilot.

Not all DJI drones have a GPS.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#73

The Ukrainian-Russo war has shown the military the power of offensive drones. You think they are going to allow civilians to own such powerful potential weapons in the future? I think offensive drone warfare is just scratching the surface. I can think of a few modifications to drones, I've yet to see in Ukraine, that could increase their lethality 10x.

They're certainly an optimal delivery device for biological and chemical weapons, and I imagine it's only a matter of time before such programs are revived by various powers, given the current breakdown in international treaty regimes governing what I'd call the four horsepeople of the apocalypse: nuclear, chemical, biological and cyber warfare.

How are they more optimal than the "traditional" (for the last few decades) method, a missile? Missiles have the advantages of bigger range, faster, different profiles (hypersonic cruise, ICBM). A drone might be harder to detect today, maybe, because anti-air systems didn't need to deal with them (while they did have to deal with missiles, so are optimised for that use case), but that's about it?

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#74
post #14

Do other countries put US hardware and software companies on blacklists for their involvement with DoD? If so, then I think quite a few major US tech companies would be unable to do business outside the US and Europe.

[deleted]

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#75
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). Also, any data information collected by a US company also has 'a nonzero chance of being handed over to the American authoriti…

> This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). I don't know how iOS works, but on Android location data permissions are requested for anything involving networking (includ…

If it's really a case of gating permissions, I still don't like it.

I used a few apps that utilize Bluetooth without asking for location, even when they aren't the obvious use case (like headphones), although admittedly it's been a while since then.

Afair, I don't recall the Mimo app asking me to turn on wifi for the stabilizer. But maybe yes and I just turned it off after connecting to the device. The operation of the stabilizer is through Bluetooth.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#76

Now if there were any replacement for DJI I'd be happy... their tech stack is weird AF (e.g. you can only view synchronized flightbooks on your DJI RC controller or on the phone if you're using the sticks-only controller but not on the website or the macOS/Windows companion app, the damn expensive DJI RC controller doesn't do HDMI/DP output, the controllers can't be re-used between drone generations, DJI Fly is only…

Autel is “on par” - better in some areas and lacking in others. They’re a Chinese company, though some of their higher-end stuff is assembled in the US. They don’t “phone home” like DJI and don’t restrict flight based on geolocation in the US.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#78
post #41

Quoted post unavailable.

Not just any company, the article clearly states this is about preventing cohesion between China’s “private” sector and their military. Given that drones are being successfully used in Ukirane to fight Russia, how much of the market share DJI controls, and how good they are at making them in the first place… it does make sense from a strategic standpoint.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#79
post #14

Do other countries put US hardware and software companies on blacklists for their involvement with DoD? If so, then I think quite a few major US tech companies would be unable to do business outside the US and Europe.

China puts most US software on a blacklist by default.

Re: Pentagon Puts DJI on Blacklist

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fairly broad problem across the whole phone app world, isn't it? For example, I bought an iOS app for LAN analysis, but then deleted it when it turned out it wouldn't work unless you gave it access to your physical location (I assume that was for their data marketing side business). Also, any data information collected by a US company also has 'a nonzero chance of being handed over to the American authoriti…

> This is a fairly broad problem Permission greed is definitely an issue but it's still the choice of every developer, and there are still plenty of apps that do not do this. You were right to refuse using the app if you don't trust it. > Handed over to the American authorities At least on paper they need to have a reason, unless the corporation is very accommodating which also happens. But some companies are more st…

> At least on paper they need to have a reason,

No they don't.

They need a reason to get a warrant. But if they simply buy the data from a broker, they don't need any reason at all, and there is utterly no oversight.

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