105
submitted 2 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.”

top 15 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Toes@ani.social 56 points 2 days ago

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.

[-] officermike@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago

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.

[-] StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 2 days ago

Well, they are a Chinese company. That they will need to comply will the laws of China doesn't surprise me.

[-] recklessengagement@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 13 points 1 day ago

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?

[-] linearchaos@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Are we talking Celsius or Fahrenheit here?

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 2 points 1 day ago

could it be Celsius and not be terminal?

[-] SARGE@startrek.website 12 points 2 days ago

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...

[-] magnetosphere@fedia.io 5 points 1 day ago

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.”

[-] hushable@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 day ago

Is Skilcraft or Lighthouse for the Blind therefore an 'American Military Company'?

Better to label them a company with contracts for the Chinese Military.

[-] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
105 points (96.5% liked)

News

23190 readers
3920 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS