You’ve heard of DJI, no? There are lots of consumer-level drones on the market, and none have absolutely owned the space like the Chinese firm DJI. Their drones have taken larger and larger bites out of the consumer market, from recreational flyers to professional camera operators and photographers, because they’re well made and reasonably priced.
But Chinese companies are causing an anxious American government to wonder how off-the-shelf consumer goods could potentially pass on sensitive data that’d pose a national security threat. China’s Communist Party exercises a tight grip on the activities of private Chinese companies when it wants to, which worries Washington. We’ve all heard of the suspicion falling on Huawei, TikTok, and TP-Link. Now it seems to be DJI in the Senate’s crosshairs.
suspicious minds
Harkening back to the days of the Cold War, which folks from across the political spectrum almost universally agree was a 45-year shitshow that nobody wants repeated, China and the West seem to be drawing closed the curtain between them that had only been gradually reopening over the past 50 years.
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s Countering CCP Drones Act would’ve added DJI to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Covered List, which meant DJI would be prohibited from selling new drones if it were passed.
Well, the U.S. Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday. It doesn’t go so far as Stefanik’s bill, which, had it passed, would’ve banned new sales from DJI as soon as this month, but it does contain a provision that requires DJI prove to an “appropriate national security agency” within one year that its products don’t pose a national security risk to the U.S.
so the dji I already own is ok, right?
Ah, maybe? The provision in the NDAA stipulates that not only would DJI be banned from selling new drones should it be unable to satisfactorily prove to the U.S. that they’re not a security risk, but DJI products would be unable to connect to US networks and the FCC would deauthorize their internal radios from being allowed to broadcast in the U.S. Who knows if the FCC would care enough to go after current DJI owners, though.
DJI responded to news of the NDAA’s passing on its official blog, Viewpoints, and states “DJI welcome [sic] to scrutiny and looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate our privacy controls and security features. However, we have some concerns:
The legislation on fairly [sic] singles out Toronto manufactured in China and does not designate agency to conduct the required risk study. If no agency determines whether DJI poses a risk, DJI would be automatically added to the FCC is covered list through no fault of its own.”
You can read their entire response here, if you enjoy corporate drama. So it’s your move, U.S. Senate. We’ve got our eye on you.
Well, not in a creepy espionage way. You know, just like… we’re watching the case with interest. Don’t ban us next.
Oh, God.
The post Drone Maker DJI Gets One-Year Reprieve From a US Gov’t Ban appeared first on VICE.
The post Drone Maker DJI Gets One-Year Reprieve From a US Gov’t Ban appeared first on VICE.
