• AlexWIWA
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    5 months ago

    This is honestly ridiculous. The security concerns are unwarranted. Any surveillance that these drones could accomplish if hacked can just be bought off of any GIS website.

    “But military bases” go fly a drone by one and see what happens. This already isn’t a surveillance concern.

    This is going to set the hobbyist and professional drone market back a decade.

    • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Only in the US. The rest of the world buys them. It still is a major market lose, but China still makes Huawei phones.

      • AlexWIWA
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        5 months ago

        Good point. Unfortunate that US consumers keep getting screwed by these bans

    • PopShark@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I have a DJI drone and I agree. I would know if it’s collecting weird telemetry I have a DNS filter which would spot it all. It doesn’t. Just normal shit.

      • AlexWIWA
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        5 months ago

        I have pulled mine apart too. I have an old one from before the tracking law and I didn’t find anything nefarious. The one I have from after the tracking law went into effect is transmitting its location and ID but I didn’t find much else even on a network intercept.

        Maybe there is some way to open a stream to China buried deep in the firmware, but I don’t see what use China would have for that. They have other methods of surveillance

    • uis@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Not hobbyist. There is high chance hobbyists drone makers will benefit from it.

      • AlexWIWA
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        5 months ago

        I can assure you that we won’t. There has not been a time in the history of this country that lower competition has resulted in improved products or prices.

        There is zero US based competition in the hobbyist and consumer spaces unless you DIY. US companies mostly do products for emergency services, large commerical operations like spraying pesticides, or military. There are a handful of brands making smaller drones, but they’re all a decade behind DJI in features and quality control, or they cost $20,000.

        I’d be fine with a ban if there was a legitimate security concern, but there isn’t, this is just part of the trade war and it only stands to harm US consumers and small businesses. The entire aerial photography industry is going to collapse and one’s only option will be large companies with hex rotor drones and Red cameras.

        • uis@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          unless you DIY.

          I was thinking about DIY.

          but there isn’t, this is just part of the trade war

          True.

          • AlexWIWA
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            5 months ago

            Oh if you’re thinking diy then yeah this won’t affect DIY at all. DIYs are all Frankensteins anyway

        • uis@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          Maybe they will learn drone making at least from off-the-shelf parts. Making own drone gives greater freedom than buying prebuilt.