this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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If they wanted to, they could just send a few Chinese "tourists" over with their DJI (or American) drones and record specific footage instead of metadata about general footage. Or use their satellites. It's not the 1940s any more.
When I fly my drone it's not connected to WiFi, and doesn't even need to be connected to my phone. What network are they sending gigabytes and gigabytes of video data over when I'm recording people fishing on a lake in the middle of nowhere?
And do you think you, and you alone are the sole target of chinese spy programs?
Do you think you speak for everyones behavior when they fly their drones?
You are whats known as the cost of business. You don't follow their plan unknowingly, but enough others do that it doesn't matter if your data is lost.
If gigabytes of video data is being streamed by every single DJI drone it should be easy enough to find out. Use the DJI Android app to control a drone and check the app's data usage before and after.
People won't do that at scale.
Also, China has been caught doing supply chain attacks by inserting chips onto circuit boards to make them easier to compromise. They could slip in a chip that enables a wavelength their satellites can access, for example.
That's the concern Congress has.
Sorry but "they could slip in a chip that enabled a wavelength their satellites can access" is ridiculous. Sending a real-time video stream to a satellite would require a large and very power hungry transmitter on the drone. It'd be super obvious.
It'd take only one person to recognize a sudden large traffic spike caused by the app and post about it online to ruin such a setup. As soon as it's confirmed by a few more people, it'd immediately be a major news story. And it's not like it's particularly hard to spot unusual traffic; especially on a phone where the OS monitors per-app data usage both on mobile and WiFi.
Starlink used ~100W at launch, and it's coming to phones. They could also use cell towers directly. Or sharing data in a swarm with nearby units and sending on whichever has access. Or they wait to upload until they're on wifi when nobody cares about data usage.
There are a lot of theoretical options here. The point isn't to look at a single option, but to consider what China may consider doing once they have eliminated competition. Exfiltrating data is one option, but there are others as well.
The solution isn't to ban DJI drones, but to ensure there's enough competition that they don't have a monopoly.
So why not ban all electronics from China? Why pick an app here, a piece of hardware there?
If absolutely any device made in China could have a secret satellite comms chip embedded in it then banning one brand of drones won't help.
We should do neither. We should allow them, but put tariffs to account for subsidies, which should encourage price competition. The concern is that China will get a monopoly, and that's where supply chain attacks are more likely.
To do what? This isn't a video game, the drone isn't going to hack the Pentagon. And just like TikTok, anyone in a sensitive position will be using a proprietary or locked down device.
That's the thing, we don't know. In the case where they were caught, it was to compromise SuperMicro servers in data centers for remote access.
I don't know why they're so interested in controlling the drone market. Maybe it's as simple as securing manufacturing jobs for their people, but maybe it's part of their spy program.
I don't think we should panic ban them, but we should make sure alternatives are viable so if we find a serious issue, we have a backup plan.
We do know. In order to hack a sensitive network you'd have to fly it into a secure area, have it transform into something that could type on a keyboard and hope nobody shoots the Decepticon.
This is ridiculous levels of fear mongering.
My point is that you don't know what data a foreign government will find usefull.
Satellites are fantastic spying tools, but drones provide a different viewpoint that is far more useful for gathering data that satellites can't.