Posted on 01/29/2020 9:09:33 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Interior Department is grounding its fleet of about 800 Chinese-made drones but will allow their use for emergency situations, the department said on Wednesday.
U.S. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt issued an order affirming a temporary cessation of non-emergency operations adopted in October as it ensures cybersecurity, technology and domestic production concerns are adequately addressed, the department said.
The order allows for approved situations for emergency purposes, such as fighting wildfires, search and rescue, and dealing with natural disasters that may threaten life or property. It also allows for training operations.
Bernhardt in October also ordered a halt to additional Interior department purchases of Chinese-made drones.
Chinas SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd, the worlds largest maker of consumer drones, said in a statement on Wednesday it is extremely disappointed in the Interior order that inappropriately treats a technologys country of origin as a litmus test for its performance, security and reliability.
The company added that the concerns have little to do with security and are instead part of a politically-motivated agenda to reduce market competition and support domestically produced drone technology, regardless of its merits.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
US interior dpt: “Hey lets buy 800 drones from the Chinese communists.” Shucks, what could go worng?
Why in the heck are we buying Chinese drones?
All it takes for them to hijack it is a single line in their code.
Because most of the top people in industry, academia, and government, are on their knees, in the full Lewinsky sense, for Red China.
Didn’t you hear the Chair of the Chemistry Dept at H-A-R-V-A-R-D was arrested yesterday by the FBI, for under-the-table dealings with Red China?
Duh.
“Why in the heck are we buying Chinese drones?”
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Simple.
Low cost. Reliability. Performance. So simple to use a cave man can do it. Results.
My company uses nothing but DJI drones for our photogrammetric products. There are other companies, but there is nothing that can compete in terms of the 5 main categories listed above.
However, we do not take them onto military properties. A couple years ago it was discovered that DJI has a rather nasty way of hijacking imagery (in real time) to the motherland. This is due to the fact that in the normal manner DJI products are used a live internet connection is maintained that — unknowing to the user — can download data direct to the Chinese.
Even a cave man would have figured out that they would include that capability.
They get a live feed from every drone.
That’s the danger.
Seems to me that’s it’s appropriate to treat the country of origin as a security risk.
And I’m all for boosting domestic production.
Which demonrat put through that purchase and what was his $$$ kickback?
Is there something BESIDES Chinese-made drones? DJI totally dominates the global market.
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