DJI, the world’s largest drone company, is suing to avoid being seen as a tool of the Chinese government. On Friday, it sued the US Department of Defense to delete its name from a list of “Chinese Military Companies,” claiming it has no such relationship to Chinese authorities and has suffered unfairly as a result of that designation.
Since DJI was added to that list in 2022, the company claims, it has “lost business deals, been stigmatized as a national security threat, and been banned from contracting with multiple federal government agencies,” and that its employees “now suffer frequent and pervasive stigmatization” and are “repeatedly harassed and insulted in public places.”
As much as I like DJI products and FPV drones in general, I can kinda see where the DoD is coming from on this one. DJI drones are particularly capable (which is part of what makes them so awesome) to the point where some are capable of being semi, if not entirely, autonomous.
Their software is entirely closed source, and thanks to the FAAs own ruling, they are now all equipped with SIM cards and internet access. There’s absolutely a threat model to consider there.
But banning them is the wrong approach. We can’t keep banning good tech just because we’re scared of it. There are entire domestic industries that benefit from DJI tech, and several that exist almost entirely because of it. The best approach would be to incentivize local competition. But since that takes a while… Why not just write custom firmware? We can’t best China in their manufacturing ability, but we’ve got tons of software talent. Write custom firmware, open source it, all domestic products get flashed before flying. Defence keeps a tighter leash on their airspace, and industry keeps their cheap drones. Win-win.
https://www.dji.com/mobile/terms
DJI reserves the right to review, remove, or disable access to User Content in violation of the applicable laws and regulations in China.
Seems like a odd thing to stick in your terms of service.
Does it really sound that odd? I would expect the exact same from USA-based companies regarding USA laws. Companies generally don’t like hosting illegal content.
Oh sure, this wouldn’t be so odd if your example applied.We’re talking about an American company with a clause like this.They aren’t American though. They are Chinese, DJI stands for Da-Jiang Innovations. “Da-Jiang” roughly translates to “Great Frontier” or “Great Border”, it’s not just someone’s name.
Ah thanks for the correction then.
Skimming the terms made it out as an American LLC.
Well, they are a Chinese company. That they will need to comply will the laws of China doesn’t surprise me.
is suing to avoid being seen as a tool of the Chinese government
You’re a Chinese company, are you going to sue anyone with above room temperature IQs?
Are we talking Celsius or Fahrenheit here?
could it be Celsius and not be terminal?
I have a dji mini, and I would absolutely love to hack it so it has no internet connection capability and is it’s own self-contained drone.
Of course, it would be preferable to have a time machine and talk some security and privacy into my younger self…
DJIs excuses sound like a gun manufacturer after a school shooting: “We just make the drones. We don’t have any control over the decision to use them to spy on Uyghurs.”
Hey Wikipedia what does DJI stands for?
SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. or Shenzhen DJI Sciences and Technologies Ltd. (Chinese: 深圳大疆创新科技有限公司; pinyin: Shēnzhèn Dà Jiāng Chuàngxīn Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) or DJI (大疆创新; Dà Jiāng Chuàngxīn; ‘Great Frontier Innovations’) is a Chinese technology company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, backed by several state-owned entities. DJI manufactures commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for aerial photography and videography.
Is Skilcraft or Lighthouse for the Blind therefore an ‘American Military Company’?
Better to label them a company with contracts for the Chinese Military.
I can’t wait to buy my own Skilcraft F-35 Lightning with targeting systems software designed and constructed by mentally and physically disabled people paid minimum wages.
