The U.S. Government Just Followed Through on Its Ban of DJI Drones • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by alex43578 » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

watwut wrote: post #51

ericmay wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, or maybe it’s just good policy to not import a network of drones from an adversary to democracies across the world, which includes the EU most importantly as China helps Russia with its invasion of Ukraine and is gearing up for some activity in Taiwan. People can just record all this stuff on their iPhones that they already have. You don’t need a DJI drone to record police malfeasance. Maybe you do in China or…

> as China helps Russia with its invasion of Ukraine America is helping Russia with its invasion of Ukraine.

By only giving Ukraine $175,000,000,000, instead of $500B? Or $1T and American boots on the ground? When has American done enough to fight Ukraine’s war for them?

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

#72

Post by throw0101d » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

See also perhaps from November 2024 (post-election), "Drone company's stock soars after it appoints Donald Trump Jr. to advisory board":

* https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/drone-company...

* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/27/donald-trump...

Also, from 2025:

> In October, Popular Information reported that the Pentagon awarded a contract to Unusual Machines, an obscure drone company that President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined as an advisor in November 2024, despite having no notable experience with drones or military contracting.

[…]

> Now, another small startup funded by 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm where Trump Jr. is a partner, will receive a $620 million loan from the Defense Department, the Financial Times reported. Vulcan Elements, which currently has around 30 employees, produces rare-earth magnets, which can be used in “drones, radar systems and other military applications.” The contract was awarded just three months after 1789 invested in Vulcan.

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

#73

Post by kahrl » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

potato3732842 wrote: post #15

DetectDefect wrote: post #11

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.

This. Can't have a hand grenade. A peasant might take the whole entry team with them if they had one of those.

Binary explosive materials are freely available at your local general store.

So are Molotov’s.

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

#74

Post by axus » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:05 PM UTC

jayd16 wrote: post #54

stickfigure wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump will be gone in 3 years. Maybe fewer depending on his health. It's unlikely that this change will have any meaningful effect on US democracy. On the other hand, little drones are effectively munitions now. That means drone manufacturing capacity is effectively munitions manufacturing capacity. We're giving potential adversaries economies of scale building things that may be used to kill us. I'm generally a pret…

That logic also means they shouldn't be banned under 2nd amendment protections, no?

Certainly the spirit of the 2nd amendment is to guarantee a widely distributed technology that gives citizens a check on their government.

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

#75

Post by goatlover » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

Alex2037 wrote: post #40

spiderfarmer wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no secret that VC's are profiting massively from this administration. And all comments critical of the current regime are getting downvoted on HN. Something adds up.

>And all comments critical of the current regime are getting downvoted on HN. there's always r/politics

HN isn't reddit.

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

#76

Post by aeternum » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:06 PM UTC

jMyles wrote: post #49

A society in which ubiquitous, diversely-owned and operated, unlicensed drones watch the every move of police and criminals - even though that means they watch the every move of the rest of us as well - is a society in which I want to live. The outcome of who can lawfully create and deploy eyes in the sky is the ultimate decider of the matter of who watches the watchers. The stakes are significant.

We could start health insurance companies that monitor everyone's gait and how often they exercise vs eat fast food to adjust prices. Or credit monitoring companies that watch how often you attend the casino vs. work. Or boyfriend monitoring to check for cheaters.

Not to mention the targeted ad potential.

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

#77

Post by vatsachak » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:07 PM UTC

Okay I'm gonna build drones on my homestead then

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

#78

Post by codezero » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:08 PM UTC

That these are banned but Chinese made robot vacuums and other appliances are not points to this not being about protecting individual Americans and more about protecting national interests (drones can map out terrain in a lot more detail and are mobile outside of your bedroom, and can be trivially weaponized)

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

#79

Post by bilekas » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

conception wrote: post #23

bilekas wrote: post #16

News 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 s…

Uh Next week? You’re late to the party. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/drone-company...

Wow.. my comment on that was means as a little tounge in cheek. Isn't there some expression about when life imitates parody?

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

#80

Post by simianparrot » Tue, Jan 13, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

jadedanalyst wrote: post #50

Kapura wrote: 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…

Agreed. They can’t control the narrative if journalists and activists can observe brutal state violence against citizens with their pocket drones. I picked up an older DJI model in December and am super glad I did with recent events.

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